Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Celebrating Johnson’s Impact For Basketball
ATHLETE OF THE YEAR BROUGHT TENACITY ONTO COURT
PRAIRIE GROVE — Anthony Johnson achieved superstar status on the football field, yet the Prairie Grove Male Athlete of the Year for school year 2017-18 exerted an intangible impact during basketball.
Intangible Impact
Johnson’s impact on the hardwood didn’t always show up in the box score, such as his 6 points contributed to Prairie Grove’s domination at Gentry on Friday, Jan. 19, during a 69-48 win. He didn’t score, yet played an instrumental role among a Tiger defense that allowed Greenland to score in double-digits in only one quarter as Prairie Grove beat Greenland, 42-30, on Dec. 17.
“Defensively, it was our best outing of the year,” said Prairie Grove coach Steve Edmiston. “We picked up our defensive intensity. We did a good job of containing their two guards. Between (Boone Tincher and Cutter Watkins), those guys are athletic, long and good-looking basketball players. We knew those were going to be the two to try to contain because they work well off each other. If we can contain them we’ll stay out of that scorefest.”
Clutch 3-Pointer
On other occasions Johnson made plays that couldn’t be ignored.
Johnson literally stepped up to send a 3-pointer through the hoop with 16 seconds left to lift Prairie Grove to a 45-41 come-from-behind win at home over West Fork on Dec. 5 stopping a three-game losing streak by the Tigers.
The clutch field goal amounted to Johnson’s only bucket of the game and came on an assist as junior point-guard Will Pridmore drove into the paint with the Tigers out of time-outs and down, 43-42.
“Will drove and penetrated and drew all the defense to him. They were focused on him, of course,” Johnson said. “That left me open. I just drilled it. I really didn’t think too much about it. My first instinct was to hoist it up there.”
The moment wasn’t lost on Edmiston even if that wasn’t how he would have drawn up the winning play.
“Honestly, that was a huge shot,” Edmiston said. “Will attacked the basket and drew the defense. I give him credit for giving it up. Anthony stepped into it in rhythm. That was a huge shot for him, especially as long as he has been in the gym shooting (since playing his last football playoff game Nov. 24). The 3-pointer is not his forte, but he shot it in rhythm. He stepped up to it. It was huge.”
Defensive Intensity
Prairie Grove led, 19-13, at halftime before West Fork put 18 points on the board in the third and seized a 40-35 lead after a technical. West Fork in-bounded in the frontcourt with 2:18 on the clock, but Johnson deflected the ball into the backcourt and was pushed out-of-bounds trying to retrieve the loose ball. Johnson’s defensive activity forced West Fork to in-bound at the far end and changed the game with his intensity.
The no-call only motivated Johnson, who ripped the ball out of the hands of a West Fork player who was stealing the in-bound pass. Johnson put the ball on the floor and drove hard, drawing a foul which led to Nick Pohlman’s jumper to break a 4:28 Prairie Grove scoring drought and 6-0 West Fork run.
After a Prairie Grove timeout, Edmiston employed a full-court man-to-man and caused a 5-second violation. The Tigers had given themselves a chance down 40-37 with 2:02 to play. Nick Pohlman tied the score, at 40-40, on a 3-pointer. The lead changed hands three times before Johnson drilled his clutch trifecta.
Tough Road Win
Shiloh Christian’s Jack Hutchinson scored 31 points, but couldn’t make the shot that mattered the most with Johnson getting a hand-inthe-face of a 3-point shot attempt which became a crucial defensive stop with time rapidly expiring in Prairie Grove’s 64-61 key conference win on the Saints’ home-court at Springdale Jan. 2.
Johnson had a bucket as all five Prairie Grove starters scored in the first 4:36 to put Prairie Grove ahead, 13-2. That deficit forced Shiloh Christian to expend a lot of energy playing from behind.
“I think we’ve got enough parts and pieces that we can give most teams a hard time,” Edmiston said. “I’m proud of us, especially in the fourth quarter. In the third quarter we played even. We made some key free throws late and got some key stops in the fourth quarter. We were finishing on the other end with free throws or baskets.”
The Saints held a 48-43 lead going into the fourth, but Prairie Grove was able to beat Shiloh’s press consistently and used an 8-3 run to tie the game on D.J. Pearson’s free throws at the 5:49 mark of the fourth.
Momentum swung back and forth. Pearson banked a shot in to finish a drive and the Tigers led 60-53 with just over three minutes remaining. The Saints roared back with 60-59 with 2:07 to play. Even with Prairie Grove’s leading scorer Will Pridmore fouling out on a charging call late in the game, the Tigers found a way to win aided by Johnson making 3-of-4 free throws in the contest.
Contested Shot
Pearson, who scored 22 points, hit both shots of the double bonus stretching the Tiger lead to 64-61 with 11.2 seconds left. Shiloh got a look they wanted with Hutchinson firing a 3-pointer from the top-of-the-key but Johnson contested the shot. Seth Rosenfeld’s desperation 3-pointer from the left wing also was off the mark.
Johnson made his mark in Tiger basketball. For that, along with his noteworthy accomplishments on the football field, he is Male Athlete of the Year for school year 2017-18 at Prairie Grove.