Balanced Pea Ridge heads to Battle final
Trent Loyd said he loves to see the balance his Pea Ridge boys have put on display this season.
The Blackhawks put that balance to good use and advanced to the Battle of the Ridge championship with a 50-34 victory over Elkins in the first of two semifinal games Friday night in Blackhawk Arena.
Four players scored between 9 and 10 points for Pea Ridge (8-3), which will try to win a tournament it hosts but has never won when the Blackhawks take on County Line in the title game Saturday.
“We think we are deeper than we have been in the past,” Loyd said. “We feel like we have four or five guys that will get 15 any night. When they share the ball, then the numbers are spread out.
“I’m proud of the way they shared it. We found a way to win a game that wasn’t as smooth as (Thursday) night’s. When you play 30-plus games, they’re not all going to be smooth. You have to find different ways to win.”
Four different Pea Ridge players scored over the final 2 minutes of the first quarter as the Blackhawks took a 16-10 lead and never relinquished it. Ben Wheeler then scored half of his 10 points early in the second quarter, and his three-point play gave Pea Ridge its first double-digit lead, 2414, midway through the third quarter.
It was then J.B. Bledsoe’s turn as he started the second half with seven straight points and turned a 5-point halftime cushion into a 31-19 lead with 4:27 left in the third quarter. Elkins (5-4) briefly pulled within 3527 on John Townsend’s bucket at the 1:40 mark, but Pea Ridge answered with Luke Baker’s 3-pointer and a bucket by Josh Turner to make it a 40-27 game.
“These guys that we’ve had in the fall, they’ve worked so hard,” Loyd said. “Early mornings, late afternoons — they’re coming in and putting in the work. They’ve really tried to set the bar high for everybody.
“They’re sharing it, they’re really defending and communicating right now. They want to be great. It’s nice to get off to a good start. They deserve to get off to a good start, and we’re just trying to play a little better each game.”
Wheeler and Turner had 10 points each for Pea Ridge, while Bledsoe and Bric Cates added nine apiece. Steven Holland led Elkins with 14 points.
Meanwhile, County Line continued its winning ways in the second semifinal as the Indians (16-0) scored the first 12 points and rolled to a 54-43 victory over Bergman (14-4). Trenton Johnston had 19 for County Line, which led 18-5 after one quarter and 33-15 at halftime, while Aundrae Milum added 15 and Cooper Watson 13.
Dyland Friend finished with 18 and Walker Patton 10 for Bergman, which briefly cut it to 52-43 on a Patton 3-pointer late in the game.
In earlier consolation action, Neosho, Mo. rolled to a 66-45 victory over Providence Academy while McDonald County, Mo. dominated the second half for a 54-32 victory over Clarksville. Neosho and McDonald County will play in the fifth-place game, while Clarksville and Providence Academy square off Saturday for seventh place.