PRAIRIE GROVE — The Prairie Grove Tigers scored the first 14 points of the game and never looked back in a 65-45 win over Gentry in 4A-1 Conference action Friday night.
The Tigers poured in 28 points in the first quarter and did not allow the visiting team to score until four minutes into the game.
Gentry 6 13 17 9 — 45
Prairie Grove 28 19 17 1 — 65
Gentry (4-13, 0-9): Haag 17, Boyd 10, Barker 8, Stoufflet 3, Massie 3, McArdell 2, Hockenberry 2.
Prairie Grove (5-15, 3-9) Tice 17, Storlie 14, Smith 13, Speed 8, Winters 6, Arguello 4, Halbert 2, Pursell 1.
GIRLS
Prairie Grove 62, Gentry 27
In the girl’s game, Prairie Grove maintained its perfect record as Lacey Beeks scored a season-high 22 points.
Prairie Grove has two more games to complete its regular season, but already clinched the 4A-1 Conference championship. Whether the team will share that championship depends on what Farmington and Prairie Grove do this next week.
“The best feeling is we’re automatically in regionals,” said Kevin Froud, Prairie Grove girls basketball coach.
Gentry 10 11 5 1 — 27
Prairie Grove 16 16 17 13 — 62
Gentry (8-13, 2-9): Hammond 7, Olds 7, Page 4, Arnold 4, Flesner 2, Thomas 2, Cripps 1.
Prairie Grove (19-4, 12-0): Beeks 22, Huber 15, Kultgen 14, Fitts 5, Smith 4, Robinson 2.
“I thought that first half was one of the better ones we’ve played all year,” Prairie Grove boys basketball coach Steve Edmiston said. “On your home floor, that’s exactly what you want to do because you want to set the tone early, and that’s what got us going.”
Gentry struggled to find a rhythm and didn’t hit double digits until a few minutes before the end of the first half.
“I think the first half we didn’t come out ready to play hard,” Gentry coach Sean Price said. “I think we came out flat, not ready to play, no energy, no intensity, and I think that was a huge difference in the game right there, the first few minutes of the game.”
The Pioneers found some momentum at the end of the third quarter when they barely avoided a mercy-rule to begin the fourth. Pioneer Blake Boyd scored three 3-pointers in less than 45 seconds at the end of the third, bringing the score to 64-36, just two points from the 30 needed.
“I think in the second half, we came out and we were able to execute a few things,” Price said. “It also helped that we made a few shots.”