‘Hawks battle Saints
Pea Ridge lost a 1-point decision on a last second goal by Shiloh in a home conference game Friday, Jan. 22.
Pea Ridge outplayed their visitors save the 19 turnovers the Hawks committed. In fact, Shiloh scored 15 points directly off Hawk miscues and that provided the Washington County foes with their final margin of victory.
The game started well with 6’8” David Andrus taking passes inside to score the Hawks’ first 4 points as they led 4-2 at the 6:00 mark of the first quarter. Pea Ridge could not score for the next five minutes save a layup by senior Malik Bagsby, however. Meanwhile, Shiloh picked up three easy layups off errant Hawk passes with another 3-ball dropped through directly after a turnover. With less than 40 seconds left in the first, Shiloh led 11-6.
However, after a timeout, the Hawks regrouped and stunned the Shiloh faithful as senior Mike Ericson hit from behind the arc, then scored on a layup with senior Greydon Edwards scoring a free throw with a second left to give Pea Ridge a 12-11 lead headed into the second quarter. In a period that saw the Hawks commit six turnovers to none by the guests, to have an end of quarter lead was remarkable.
The Hawks suffered two turnovers to start the second quarter with Shiloh’s layup giving the guests a 12-13 lead. Andrus scored in the paint to retake the lead, then after junior Korbyn Moberly scored on a layup and sophomore Bric Cates popped in a short jumper, the Hawks were leading 18-13.
With 2:38 left, Shiloh then scored a trey to cut the lead to 2, but when a Bagsby 8-foot jumper and a shot from behind the arc went in, the home boys were leading 23-16. A final Shiloh score in the last few seconds left the halftime totals in Pea Ridge’s favor 23-18.
The Hawks came out of intermission fired up with Edwards and Cates dropping in layups to get the lead out to 27-18, the biggest lead to date at 9 points. Then the turnover bug bit, with the Hawks turning over the ball three times in succession with Shiloh turning them into points. With 3 minutes left in the third quarter, the Hawks held a scant 31-30 lead.
Bagsby and Edwards scored to offset goals by Shiloh, with Edwards’ shot behind the arc increasing the Pea Ridge lead 36-34 headed into the final quarter.
Bagsby knocked down a pair of free throws, with Edwards ripping a trey for a 41-34 lead as it seemed the Hawks were on the way to
victory. A pair of Hawk turnovers helped the guests score 5 points to get back to within 2 at 41-39. Bagsby then rammed through a 3-pointer and with senior Joe Adams scoring seconds later, the Hawks were back up by 7 with 4:48 left in the game.
The Hawks then suffered three turnovers in succession which the visitors turned into 6 points to climb to within one at 46-45. Andrus nudged the Hawks further ahead with a free throw, 47-45 with 2:51 left in the game.
With 2:38 to go, Shiloh made a free throw, but missed the next attempt. The resulting rebound went to Shiloh, who went on to put up eight shots rebounding all eight shots until the Hawks caught a break on a Shiloh miscue. Pea Ridge then got a shot at the free throw line but misfired, giving the ball to the visitors with 37 seconds left. Shiloh then worked the ball into the paint, scoring to give them their first lead since the first quarter, with 5 seconds to play. The Hawks could not score, sealing the win for Shiloh.
Bagsby led the scoring for Pea Ridge with 14, followed by Edwards 11, Andrus 9, Ericson 5, Cates 4, Moberly 2 and Adams 2.
The Hawks are on the road at Harrison this Friday.