Hawks beat Hogs, 72-67, in rivalry

It was close, it was tied, it was close, then one team emerged.

Pleasant Grove earned a 72-67 win over crosstown rival Arkansas High in a boys varsity basketball game at Hawk Gym on Tuesday.

“Any time that we can win against a city team, it’s awesome,” Pleasant Grove head coach Dwight McCowan said. “It’s great for the kids and the community. I think we were 0-4 against Arkansas High since I moved here, so it’s great to get a win against them. Coach (Sam) Weaver is a great coach and does a great job with those guys. It’s a big win for us.”

Dre Robinson led all scorers with 24 points for the Hawks. Jared Glover, who hit five shots from downtown,

finished with 16 for Pleasant

Grove.

“We made too many mistakes,” Arkansas High head coach Sam Weaver said. “We’ve had a problem with patience on offense so far this year. We have to work the ball and make the defense make a mistake. We have to stop forcing shots.

“At times, I felt like we defended really well. We rebound well for our size. The guys worked hard, and we took a lead in the second half. We have some new guys that are joining that team that we’ll work into the system.”

Pleasant Grove forced 14 turnovers, while Arkansas High forced 12. For most of the time, the Hawks controlled the pace of the game.

“We wanted to make Arkansas High work in a half-court set,” McCowan said. “We didn’t want to make it a track meet. I felt like we ran when we wanted to run, and we slowed it down when we wanted to; that’s what good teams do. I felt like we controlled the tempo tonight.”

Micah Yarber had a double-double for the Razorbacks with 10 rebounds and a team-high 19 points. Cameron Dorn scored 17 for AHS, while teammate Jaylon Randle had 11.

The Razorbacks outrebounded Pleasant Grove, 32-23. The Hawks shot 53 percent from the field on 25-of-47 shooting. Arkansas High h it on 27 of 52 shots (field goal percentage of 52).

After the Razorbacks went up early 4-0, the Hawks went on a 9-0 run to take the lead. During the run, Robinson slammed a dunk on a break away, and Garrett Young hit a trey for the Hawks, who took a 17-13 lead after the first quarter.

Despite three, 3-pointers from Glover in the second period, the Razorbacks outscored the Hawks 22-21. Dorn scored eight of his 17 points in the second for the Hogs.

PG went into the locker room with a 38-35 lead.

The action in the third quarter went back-and-forth. Randle knocked down a shot from beyond the arc for the Hogs to knot the game at 40-all in the third quarter.

Yarber drove inside for a layup to give Arkansas High its first lead of the game, 42-40.

Glover ripped in a shot from 3-point land, and the Hawks went on a 6-point rally to take a 46-42 lead.

Pleasant Grove took a 5-point lead going into the final stanza.

The teams played on even keel and matched one another in points scored in the fourth quarter with 20 apiece. The Hawks’ lead that was built after the third quarter sustained as PG earned the 72-67 win.

Torie Blair had a game-high 10 points as Arkansas High rolled past Pleasant Grove in the junior varsity game, 50-22.

Cade Norris paced the Hawks with eight points.