Mounties Finish Strong To Grab Victory

ROGERS — Pea Ridge stayed with Rogers High in the first half, but the Black- hawks had no answer for the Mounties in the second.

Rogers closed out the third quarter with a 9-0 run and held Pea Ridge without a field goal the final 13 minutes, 49 seconds of the game as the Mounties raced to a 51-31 win in a first round game at the Arvest Hoopfest at King Arena.

PREP BASKETBALL

ROGERS HIGH 51, PEA RIDGE 31

Pea Ridge 10 8 5 8 10 8—31

Rogers 9 14 14 14—51

PEA RIDGE (1-3): Davis 8, Trundle 8, Hardy 5, Beckmann 5, Rose 4, Kelso 1. ROGERS (2-2): Black 12, Martinez 9, Killingsworth 8, Smith 8, Hill 6, Street 4, Salvador 3, Young 1.

THURSDAY GAME 1: Fort Smith Southside 55,

Tulsa Edison 51 GAME 2: Waynesville, Mo., 65, Mount Vernon, Mo. 47 GAME 3: Rogers Heritage 52, Webb City, Mo. 37 GAME 4: Rogers High 51, Pea Ridge 31

TODAY GAME 5: Tulsa Edison vs. Webb

City, 4 p.m. GAME 6: Mount Vernon vs. Pea Ridge, 5:30 p.m. GAME 7: Fort Smith Southside vs. Rogers Heritage, 7 p.m. GAME 8: Waynesville vs. Rogers High, 8:30 p.m.

SATURDAY GAME 9: Loser Game 5

vs. Loser Game 6, 1:30 p.m. GAME 10: Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6, 3 p.m. GAME 11: Loser Game 7 vs. Loser Game 8. 4:30 p.m. GAME 12: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8, 6 p.m.

Rogers (2-2) will face Waynesville, Mo., in the semifinals at 8:30 p.m. today. Waynesville, which has three Division 1 pros- pects, easily defeated Mount Vernon, Mo. 65-47 in another first round game. Pea Ridge (1-3) faces Mount Vernon in a loser’s bracket game at 5:30 p.m. The finals are set for 6 p.m. Saturday.

Rogers scored 16 points off 12 Pea Ridge turnovers and they outrebounded the Blackhawks 29-21.

“Great defense, our guys are doing a good job,” said Mounties coach Wayne Herren. “We are still learn- ing to play man-to-man defense, and the guys did a good job of switching off screens. We just did a great job on the defensive end.” Pea Ridge trailed 28-23 early in the third quarter after a basket by Bryce Beckmann but the Black- hawks would not score from the field the rest of the way. Zach Davis and Tristan Trundle led Pea Ridge with eight points each.

“It was a little disappoint- ing because Rogers kind of pushed us around in the second half,” said Pea Ridge coach Trent Loyd. “Rogers was physical with us, and I didn’t think we responded like we need to. This is one of the best tournaments in the state, and you expect to play somebody good. We will see another good team in Mount Vernon.”

Sophomore George Black led Rogers with 12 points after making 4-of-5 field goal attemps, includ- ing making both 3-point attempts. Edgar Martinez added nine points while Xavier Smith and Jake Kill- ingsworth both finished with eight points for the Mounties.

“George played well, and he had a 3-pointer that really squashed a run right there,” Herren said.

Black gave Rogers an early 5-0 lead with a 3-point play but Davis hit back-to- back 3-pointers and Trundle hit two layups to give the Blackhawks a 10-9 lead at the end of the first period.

But Edgar Martinez opened the second period with a 3-pointer as the

Mounties wnet on a 10-2 run for a 19-12 lead. Rogers extended the lead to 23-14 on a layup by Smith but the Blackhawks cut the Mount- ies lead to 23-18 at halftime after baskets by Logan Rose and Trundle.

Martinez scored five- straight points to start a 9-0 run to end the third and a four-point play by Black extended the run to 15-0 as the Mounties pulled away.

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