Basketball: Pea Ridge holds off Gravette

NWA Democrat-Gazette/RANDY MOLL Joey Hall, Pea Ridge sophomore, drives Friday past Gravette senior Zac Carlton for a shot under the basket in Gravette.
NWA Democrat-Gazette/RANDY MOLL Joey Hall, Pea Ridge sophomore, drives Friday past Gravette senior Zac Carlton for a shot under the basket in Gravette.

GRAVETTE -- Joey Hall patiently waited as the clock ticked down.

The Pea Ridge sophomore passed and waited as the seconds ticked off with the game tied 62-62 against Gravette.

Finally with the clock under 5 seconds, Hall got the slight opening he was looking for and launched a 3-pointer from the top of the key. His shot swished through the net with 2.4 seconds left, and capped a stellar night as the Blackhawks claimed a tough 65-62 road win in 4A-1 Conference action.

Hall finished with a game-high 27 points, including six 3-pointers. His 11-point barrage in the third quarter opened up a double-digit lead for the Blackhawks (16-7, 9-1 4A-1), but Gravette (7-15, 2-9) refused to wilt and fought back when Hall went to the bench after picking up his fourth foul with 2 minutes 6 seconds left in the third quarter.

"Joey is that type of player," Pea Ridge coach Trent Loyd said. "He's been making those shots since I've known him in seventh grade. It's nice to have one of those around."

Pea Ridge led by five at halftime after Hall hooked up with Blake Sheppard on an alley-oop at the buzzer, then the Blackhawks went on an 11-2 run to open the third quarter and a 39-25 lead on Hall's third 3-pointer of the quarter.

As quickly as Pea Ridge took the big lead, the Lions turned up the heat defensively. With Austin White and Cole Turner dominating in the paint, Gravette pulled within 39-36 on Jackson Soule's steal and layup.

From that point on the game was a dogfight.

"My kids executed to the T what we wanted to do," Gravette coach Greg White said. "We had a shot at the buzzer to tie. We played our tails off tonight."

Turner scored a layup off a 2-1 break to give the Lions their first lead 51-50 with 6:10 left in the fourth quarter. Pea Ridge again surged with a 6-0 lead, capped by Tristan Trundle's tip-in and a 56-51 lead.

Gravette stayed in the game with free throws as Zac Carlton and Soule each hit a pair. Turner's pull-up from 10 feet tied the game at 60-60, and White, who led the Lions with 17 points, scored on an offense rebound to tie the game at 62-62 with a minute left.

Pea Ridge worked the clock down to set up Hall's game-winner.

"We've had a lot of close games this year," Loud said. "We knew coming in here this was going to be a tough game. Any time you can go on the road and get a win in this conference, you'll take it."

Girls

Pea Ridge 41, Gravette 36

The Lady Blackhawks survived a foul-fest that saw 52 combined fouls called to edge Gravette.

Pea Ridge led from start-to-finish, but could not pull away from the scrappy Lady Lions, who pulled within four points twice in the fourth quarter.

Jennifer Anthony led Pea Ridge (9-14, 4-6 4A-1) with 10 points and Avery Dayberry added 9.

Amanda Pinter led Gravette (5-17, 0-10) with 14 points and Sydney Hicks added 9.

Sports on 01/31/2015

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