FARMINGTON — Terence Pierce scored three 3-pointers in under 20 seconds with less than a minute left to play, but it wasn’t enough to bring Gravette back on Friday night.
The Farmington Cardinals defeated the Gravette Lions 59-53 in a game where the difference between winning and losing likely came down to one player.
Pierce came out strong in the first quarter, scoring 12 points. But that momentum came to a halt once he committed a quick three fouls and was forced to sit out half of the second quarter.
“He’s obviously our main offensive threat,” Gravette coach Dustin Peters said. “He played well early and got in a little foul trouble and had to sit, and that affected us.”
Pierce was silent through the majority of the game and didn’t score his next points until there was 3:44 left to play. He scored 13 points in those minutes and finished with 25.
“They do a good job guarding him,” Peters said. “But he’s such a good shooter. Some of the stuff he’s making, there’s nothing you can do. He’s got two guys draping him and he’s still draining in 30-footers.”
While the Lions’ offense focused primarily on one player, the Cardinals were the opposite. Three of their players scored in double digits with Josh Mueller leading the way with 19 and Alex Dellett right behind with 18.
With less than three minutes to play, Mueller drained a 3-pointer to give the Farmington a five-point lead.
“We don’t shoot a lot of 3s, but we finally got one to fall with Mueller in the corner in the fourth quarter, and I thought that was a big shot,” said Farmington coach Beau Johnson.
Peters had similar feelings about the shot.
“Josh hit that big 3 in the corner, that really was a dagger for us,” he said.
Heading into the second half, Farmington was trailing 28-24. The team came out with a new energy and scored the first six points to gain the lead, which it never let go.
FARMINGTON 59, GRAVETTE 53
Gravette 19 9 6 19 — 53
Farmington 13 11 14 21 — 59
Gravette (11-8, 7-3): Pierce 25, Troutner 10, M. VanOtterloo 8, Pollreis 5, Parker 3, Nims 2.
Farmington (17-4, 9-1): Mueller 19, Dellett 18, Garner 13, Brackett 7, Stevens 2.
Girls: Gravette 50, Farmington 41
Samantha Pruitt had 20 points and Destaney Wishon added 17 as Gravette pulled off an upset of Farmington.
Gravette (6-13, 2-8) grabbed a 16-15 lead and slowly pulled away through every quarter. The Lady Lions led 20-18 at halftime and 32-25 at the end of the third quarter.
Haley Maxwell led Farmington (17-5, 9-2) with her 15 points.
GRAVETTE 50, FARMINGTON 41
Gravette 16 4 12 18 — 50
Farmington 15 3 7 16 — 41
Gravette (6-13, 2-8): Pruitt 20, Wishon 17, White 6, Dewitt 6, Bayley 1.
Farmington (17-5, 9-2): Maxwell 15, Scheyder 9, Rhame 6, Blackburn 5, Duchanois 4, Scales 2.