Bobcats Startle Shiloh

PRAIRIE GROVE — Berryville excelled with point- guard Kade Davidson distributing the basketball and finding spot-up shooters startling No. 1 seed Shiloh Christian with a 64-56 upset in the district semifinals.

Berryville coach Brent Compton was thrilled as his boys knocked down 12 threes while limiting Shiloh to four and the Bobcats captured a 26-20 halftime lead at Prairie Grove’s Tiger Arena on Thursday, Feb. 20. Landon Chester (23 points, 6 treys) and Trenton Hutchison (17 points, 5 treys) combined for 40 points.

Berryville’s defense was good too. Shiloh star 6- 4 forward Seth Rosenfeld lit up Lincoln for 47 points in the first game of the season. This time the Berryville guys didn’t let him take over the game.

The first quarter started off as a physical battle as most games involving Shiloh Christian occur. The Saints took an early lead before Berryville tied it at 8-all on Hutchison’s 3-pointer set up by a nice bounce pass from Davidson. Eli Wisdom’s steal and lay-in gave the Saints a 2-point lead, but that was erased by Chester’s trifecta for Berryville.

Rosenfeld scored 18 points but they were scattered. None came in bunches and equally important Berryville rose above the challenge of playing three nights in-a-row. The Bobcats stayed in the flow of the game and never played tired. The Bobcats used a 15-6 point production advantage in the second quarter to erase Shiloh’s 14-11 first quarter lead.

In the third quarter Shiloh lost shooters when Berryville turned up the tempo. Three consecutive 3-point shots extended the Bobcat lead to 42-27. Davidson assisted on all three finding Hutchison in the left corner, Chris Lehr in the right corner and Chester.

The barrage made the Saints vulnerable to giving up drives while trying to get out on shooters. Chester converted an old-fashioned 3-point play and Davidson went around his man to keep the margin at 47-32 when the third quarter concluded.

Rosenfeld converted both ends of a 1-and-1 yet the Saints still trailed 52-38 at the 3:55 mark of the fourth. Shiloh coach Chuck Davis took timeout, but Davidson finished a drive and Chester sank a pair of treys. Weston Teague blocked Rosenfeld and Davidson was off to the races finishing at the other end to extend the Bobcat lead to 62-43 with the clock down to 1:44.