Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Clark Ignites Outburst
PLAYER DRAINS TRIFECTA
PRAIRIE GROVE — Prairie Grove senior Breyden Clark brushed aside cerebral palsy, a heart condition, and effects of a stroke that left him with partial paralysis by swishing a 3-pointer.
Breyden’s long- range bucket opened the scoring as Prairie Grove defeated Gravette, 61-33, at Tiger Arena Tuesday, Feb. 11. Breyden last played basketball at the pee wee level in sixth grade, but he’s never stopped dreaming of suiting up and knocking down a trifecta for his beloved Prairie Grove Tiger varsity boys basketball team, of which he serves as manager.
He got his chance thanks to a gentleman’s agreement worked out prior to tip-off between Prairie Grove coach Steve Edmiston and Gravette coach Matt Busch.
“Class act with Coach Busch, I talked to him about it before the game. As you saw, his kids kind of knew kind of what was going on, but he did a great job and I was really appreciative of they all came over after he made the shot,” Steve Edmiston said. “I was thrilled, of course, it was one shot, knock it down, but he pulled it off exactly the way we wanted to.”
Breyden’s 3-pointer kick-started a 13-2 Prairie Grove run to open the game. Classmate Alex Edmiston, who gave up his starting spot to get Brayden onto the court on senior night, checked in and drained a fade-away jumper. John Mayers added a pair of free throws. Sloan Smith showed off an acrobatic score capitalizing on an in-bounds
play underneath the basket. Alex Edmiston turned a steal into a long outlet that Mayers caught on the run and converted at the far end.
Carl Von Bergon, who had the assist on Breyden’s triple, accelerated with the dribble and caught the Lions back-pedaling by pulling up to nail a jumper at the free throw line.
In less than six minutes the fired-up Tigers were crushing it — leading by 11.
Johnny Dunfee and Jake Carver combined to score the next five points for Gravette, but Von Bergon snapped a 3-pointer to end the quarter the way Breyden began it and the Tigers led 16-7.
The Lions rallied to take a 21-20 halftime lead before falling behind, 34-29, at the end of the third quarter. Prairie Grove exploded for 27 points in the fourth quarter to run away for a 61-33 victory.
But in the midst of all this, one thing mattered most — sportsmanship.
Gravette coaches and players willingly participated in helping one young man wearing a different colored jersey realize the dream of a lifetime.
“As soon as it left my hand I thought there’s no way it’s going to go in,” Breyden said.
But his aim was better than he realized. All those hours of practicing shooting baskets paid off big time. The reaction on social media threatened to disrupt his personal account.
“My Snapchat has blown up 27 times,” he said minutes after the final horn.
The Lions will surely reap the benefits of sewing kindness into the heart of an opponent. They represent the 4A-1 Conference well.