WINS OVER ELKS, SAINTS

PRAIRIE GROVE — The Tigers rode a dominant fourth quarter defense to beat Elkins, 58-39, Thursday and didn’t allow a peculiar set of circumstances to diminish their effort.

After a 15-0 Tiger run, Elkins (5-6, 2-5) scored five points on a strange trip to the offensive end of the court. The Elks’ Layne Evans, who led Elkins with 15 points, hit a 3-pointer at the 4:02 mark. An away from the ball foul was called against Prairie Grove (8-7, 6-1) on the play with the Elks in-bounding underneath their own basket after a made bucket. Caleb Shumate got into the lane and hit a shot six seconds later but that was all she wrote.

Elkins scored not, neither during the first 3:57 nor the last 3:57 of the fourth quarter. Prairie Grove opened the period on a 15-0 run to pull away from a 39-34 lead at the end of the third. Will Pridmore busted a trifecta to start the run. Twenty seconds later, D.J. Pearson rebounded an Elks’ miss and threw the outlet over the top to DeMarcus Cooper headed towards the basket at the far end. Cooper was fouled and made both free throws.

One good turn deserves another and Cooper returned the favor. After rebounding, he spotted Pearson streaking down-court and got him the ball for an easy layup. The 6-feet-3 muscular Cooper was the man of the moment, working a high- low action to Cameron Simmons with a lob for a layup. Zeke Laird capped the run with his third 3-pointer of the contest and Prairie Grove led comfortably, at 54-34.

Elkins had their 5-0 mini run, but Cooper answered with a free throw, then drained a 3-point shot from the right corner for good measure. The 58- 39 win pushed Prairie Grove to a 6-1 conference record. Pridmore, who led all scorers with 17 points, hit five 3-pointers during a game in which the Tigers made 9 from distance, including 3 by Laird. Simmons had 10 of his 14 points in the second half and Moore added 10.

Even with an injury to starting guard Isaac Disney, Coach Steve Edmiston has found a combination that works. Reverting to a lineup used in the opening week before the basketball team was at full strength, Edmiston saw senior 6-feet-3 center Simmons, senior forward 6- feet-1 Taylor Moore play well with sophomore 6-feet-3 guard Pridmore and sophomore guard 5-feet-10 Braden Riser. That group started along with 5-feet-9 senior guard Laird.

Against Shiloh Christian four players produced 54 points with Simmons ( 18), Pridmore ( 16), Riser (11) and Moore (9) contributing to a 58-48 victory over the Saints Jan. 3. Prairie Grove got off to a good start, leading 15-9 after the first quarter. Shiloh Christian then cut the Tiger lead down to a two-point game of 22-20 at halftime. Prairie Grove pushed the lead back to five, at 37-32, at the close of the third period. Shiloh Christian made a run in the fourth quarter, getting scoring from eight different players in the contest, and pulled within two points.

Simmons was instrumental in holding off the Saints. He scored 7 points in the period, putting back a Tiger miss and converting 5 of 7 free throws as Prairie Grove pulled away for a 10-point win of 58-48. Jack Hutchinson scored 10 points to lead Shiloh Christian. Prairie Grove’s rivalry game against Lincoln scheduled for Friday was postponed until Wednesday due to snowfall in the area.