Tigers Advance To District Quarterfinal

PRAIRIE GROVE — Two questions loomed for the Prairie Grove boys coming into a Tuesday, Feb. 18, District tournament boys basketball game against Harrison on the Tigers’ home-court.

Could the Tigers handle pressure without injured point-guard Cole Vertz, out for the season with a torn ACL?

Could Prairie Grove adequately defend the perimeter?

Prairie Grove answered both questions with a solid 54-48 win adapting without Vertz and finding offense from Noah Ceniceros, who scored 12 of his game-high 21 points to lead the Tigers after trailing 29-27 at halftime.

“Cole was kind of our glue guy, always going to take care of what he needed to. As a guard he’s came in and done really good things for us,” said Prairie Grove coach Steve Edmiston. “Noah Ceniceros coming out of nowhere in the second half kind of propelled us back into the game.”

Harrison didn’t throw a press at the Tigers right away, but the Goblins didn’t need to. They were busy stroking the 3- ball from downtown. Steve Edmiston didn’t want to see his team fall behind by double digits in the first quarter as Gentry did the day before when Harrison made 10 threes and jumped out to a 19-5 lead.

“One thing that scared me was Harrison’s ability to shoot the ball,” Steve Edmiston said, imploring his defenders, “We got to find a way to challenge and break their rhythm.”

Harrison jumped out to an 8-2 lead after Prairie Grove missed layups on its first two possessions, prompting Steve Edmiston to implore his squad, “We got to make layups, fellows.”

The Tigers fought back, engineering a 9-3 run of their own. Sloan Smith broke long and beat the full-court press. Ceniceros got undercut and drew a foul while grabbing an offensive rebound. That set up an in-bounds play underneath the Tigers’ basket. He scored and added a free throw. At the other end Ceniceros stole the ball and dribbled coast-to-coast. Alex Edmiston concluded the run by dribbling to the middle and sticking a short jumper to tie the game, at 11-all.

The score was knotted at 14-14 at the end of the first quarter.

A staunch defensive effort blanked the Goblins’ Ethan Edwards, who scored 23 points for Harrison, during a 67-59 loss to Prairie Grove in conference play Jan. 21. Edwards had 26 against Gentry but the Tigers held him scoreless. Even with the Tigers holding him in check Harrison scored seven straight points to grab a 39-31 lead at the 4:51 mark of the third as Prairie Grove missed four straight free throws.

The Tigers rallied. John Mayers controlled a loose ball and converted a layup. Ceniceros hit a trifecta.

Harrison went back up by six when Gatlin James caught a tipped- rebound and found himself open for a 3-pointer, but the Tigers refused to cash in their chips.

Ceniceros again hit from 3- point range and Alex Edmiston nailed a short baseline jumper drawing Prairie Grove within 42-41 going into the fourth. Steve Edmiston liked the fight in his Tigers as Prairie Grove began the fourth on a 9-2 run to assume a 50-44 lead. Smith and Mayers passed to teammates for easy buckets.

“This time of year we got down by eight in the second half, and had to keep our attention the same. I told our guys, ‘We can still do this.” It’s the conference tournament everybody’s back in the hunt. That’s what I love about it,” Steve Edmiston said. “Our defense played much better in the second half. We took care of the ball.”

Ceniceros pushed the lead to six with a layup with just over a minute to play, then tipped in a Tiger miss to seal the win, drawing praise from his coach.

Harrison made no 3-pointers in the fourth. Ben Elliot led the Goblins with 13 points.

The win advanced Prairie Grove into the district quarterfinals against Huntsville.