HUNTSVILLE -- Pea Ridge brought a dominant defense on the bus ride over to Huntsville Friday and carried it throughout an entire four quarters, as the Eagles could never find their shooting touch from outside the three-point stripe in a battle of top 4A-1 Conference teams.
The Blackhawks held Huntsville to 30 percent shooting from the floor and got a big performance on their offensive end from Josh Hall, pushing past the Eagles 49-34 to jump even with Huntsville atop the 4A-1 standings.
Boys
Pea Ridge 49, Huntsville 34
Pea Ridge^14^10^12^13^—^49
Huntsville^12^7^4^11^—^34
Pea Ridge (15-3, 5-1): Hall 18, Church 10, Holtgrewe 8, Caudill 8, Rose 3, Wright 2.
Huntsville (17-2, 5-1): Gosvener 16, Eaton 11, Yarbrough 5, Bohannan 2.
Girls
Huntsville 54, Pea Ridge 33
Pea Ridge^8^2^12^11^—^33
Huntsville^18^15^9^12^—^54
Pea Ridge (8-11, 1-5): Anthony 17, Dayberry 7, Socha 4, Hooten 3, Whatley 2.
Huntsville (13-6, 5-1): Tipton 22, Walkingstick 10, McCone 10, Gosvener 4, Campbell 3, Sulffridge 3, Presley 2.
"We've preached defense the last month and we've really made it our identity," Pea Ridge coach Trent Loyd said. "Tonight, we came out with a superb effort on the defensive end.
"Huntsville is a talented team, they shoot the ball very well and they're really well coached. But we came out from our end and put a stamp on, from our end, how we wanted the game to be played on the defensive end."
Hall scored 10 of his game-high 18 points in the first half as Pea Ridge (15-3, 5-1) built a 24-19 lead, scoring an old-fashioned three-point play in the first quarter and adding another 3-pointer behind the arc in the second quarter.
"Hall's a really good player," Huntsville coach Jim Stafford said. "We remember him last year, and he's really good again this year."
Pea Ridge took control in the third quarter, as Huntsville was limited to just one field goal over the course of eight minutes to allow the Blackhawks to build a 15-point lead. For the game, the Eagles shot a woeful 1-for-20 from 3-point range.
"We didn't shoot it well tonight," Stafford said. "But their defense had a lot to do with that. Pea Ridge got out there and played really good defense."
Huntsville (17-2, 5-1) made a brief run in the fourth quarter, scoring seven unanswered points to pull within eight points. But Pea Ridge quickly answered and put the game away for good.
"It's a game of runs, especially when both teams are playing as hard as we are," Loyd said. "I was extremely proud of the way we gained focus again of what we were trying to do and were able to lock it back up."
Westin Church added 10 points for the Blackhawks and River Gosvener led Huntsville with 16.
Girls
Huntsville 54, Pea Ridge 33
Delanie Tipton scored 14 of her game-high 22 points in the first half as the Lady Eagles built a 23-point lead by intermission, en route to a sportsmanship rule victory in 4A-1 Conference play on Friday.
The Huntsville lead grew to 30 points early in the fourth quarter before a late push by Pea Ridge (8-11, 1-5). Cheyenne Walkingstick and Courtney McCone added 10 points each in the win for the Lady Eagles.
Sports on 01/16/2016