Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Slam Caps Senior Night For Tigers
PRAIRIE GROVE BOYS SNAP SKID, BEAT GENTRY 67-48
PRAIRIE GROVE — Gentry inexplicably came out to pressure the ball in the waning seconds so Prairie Grove senior Landon Semrad drove and punctuated a 67-48 win with a power slam.
He got the green light from Prairie Grove coach Steve Edmiston and knew what to do with the ball once he broke to the basket, depositing the ball in the hoop with a swift dunk on senior night.
“They were pressing up on me and I had my back to them and coach goes ‘just go.’ I was ‘alright, got them.’ One cross over and I was downhill, slammed it and it felt good. Crowd goes crazy,” Semrad said.
Semrad’s skywalk brought the house down as his teammates and hometown Tiger fans let out a bunch of war whoops celebrating the feat that brought his point total to 20 for the game. The spectacular slam dunk put the icing on the cake as the Tigers snapped a four-game losing streak in which they were outscored by an average of 70 to 38.5 and did away with a world of frustrations that seemed to lag in the first quarter.
“It was a good bounce back. I’m happy that we were able to take Coach Ed’s and Coach Green’s coaching and play some great basketball so it was good environment for senior night, a good way to sign out,” Semrad said.
Edmiston attributed some of the Tigers’ troubles to the level of competition in the 4A-1.
“We’ve been going through a pretty tough stretch right here, playing against the top tier teams in the conference. That’s tough when you got Berryville and Farmington back-to-back, two of the best teams not only in the conference but in the state.
“Not to play very well and take losses the way we did I was hoping that we’d come back and we would answer a little bit and we sure did. The first half was a little sluggish. We weren’t real sure [of ourselves] and then it looked like as the game went on building that confidence on both ends of the floor and then eventually slowly but surely just kind of pulling away,” Edmiston said.
Sophomore guard Eric Henderson enjoyed a breakout performance by scoring 28 points to lead the Tigers. His offensive production opened things up for others.
“Best outing of the year from a point standpoint. His activity just in general was pretty good tonight. When he shoots it like that he’s hard to guard. He acquires a lot of attention and you got a Landon who kind of comes back and does what he can do. That’s a pretty strong duo there and then we’ve
got role players and we stress team, team, team and that’s what we’re going to play like. It takes all five that are out on the floor and did a good job. We kind of limited the bench tonight. Our bench players came through and gave us some good minutes. We had some foul trouble but managed a way to survive it
Prairie Grove rode the hot hand of sophomore Eric Henderson, who scored a season high 28 points by knocking down five 3-pointers and going 9-for-10 at the free throw line.
“We just needed this win and I’m glad we got it. It’s like playoffs from here,” Henderson said.
Gentry looked like they might make a run in the last two minutes but Garrison Jackson missed in the paint and Tate Benoit boxed him out and cleared the rebound. Henderson pushed the ball up-court and set up Semrad for a close-range shot. The shot didn’t fall, but Semrad came up on the other side with the rebound and put it back in, extending the Tiger advantage to 65-48 with 1:22 to go.
The Pioneers grabbed a 12-5 first quarter lead as Prairie Grove struggled to find the basket. The Tigers didn’t get their first points until Henderson drained a three just over five minutes into the contest. Gentry put together an 8-2 run over the last 2:30 of the first beginning with Brayden Feathers’ trey and culminated by Bart Walker’s 3-pointer.
The Pioneers were outscored 20- 10 by the Tigers in the second as Prairie Grove jumped in front, 25-22, at halftime. Jackson had 4 points in the period with Gentry working his size advantage in the paint. The Tigers played without Ryder Orr, who sustained an injury against Farmington in the previous game. Henderson sank a trio of triples and made all four of his free throws in the second making the Pioneers pay for some tough fouls.
“You got to knock down your free throws; it’s very important in games and I’m just really proud. I like this team, I love it a lot.” Henderson said.
The Tigers used an 12-5 surge to increase their lead to 38-29 at the 3:14 mark of the third quarter. Henderson made 2-of-3 free throws after getting fouled in the act of shooting a three. He added an old-fashioned 3-point play to answer a Feathers’ trifecta in the corner.
“I’ve been in a slump, just got to shoot better. I still have the confidence in myself and I’m going to keep on having that confidence. I’m young and I’m going to continue getting better going forward and our team is going to continue getting better as well,” Henderson said.
Semrad scored a pair of field goals highlighted by a sensational reverse lay- in sandwiched around Walker’s free-throw line jumper for Gentry.
Prairie Grove’s Austin Henry got to an offensive rebound and laid it back in the hoop and Semrad scored after catching a lob.
The Pioneers found themselves facing a 46-33 deficit at the end of the third quarter. Prairie Grove increased the margin to 17 before Feathers’ free throws and Walker’s bucket in the lane gave Gentry four straight points to make it 52-39.
Jackson’s free throw wouldn’t go on a 3- point play opportunity but Gentry stayed within 59- 46 with 3:22 remaining in the fourth. The Pioneers then went scoreless for the next 1:09 before Feathers made two foul shots. Conner Hubbs matched that with the clock down to 1: 46 and Prairie Grove enjoyed a 63-48 lead.
Gentry couldn’t score and Prairie Grove appeared content to run out the clock until Gentry started to pressure the ball with about 24 seconds left which set the stage for Semrad’s flush.
“We were pretty much content to just sit on it. They kind of pressured us up a little bit, kind of forced the hand and so Landon decided to go the hole. I can’t fault him for that. You can’t just kind of stay back and let them pressure you. Those are the kind of things his athleticism can do, I mean, that was pretty impressive just to take it down the gut and that’s a great way to end your senior night, your home career for sure,” Edmiston said.