Basketball: Shiloh Christian knocks off top seed Pea Ridge

LINCOLN -- Shiloh Christian punched its ticket to regionals on Thursday. On Friday, the Saints took it a step further.

Shiloh Christian used a smothering, pressing defense and shot lights out in a 51-43 win against top-seed Pea Ridge in the semifinals of the 4A-1 Conference Tournament.

Shiloh Christian 14 7 15 15 -- 51

Pea Ridge 7 6 15 15 -- 43

Pea Ridge: Coble 18, Holtgrewe 9, Mahoney 7, Rose 6, Rhine 3.

Shiloh Christian: Hutchinson 13, Bryant 11, Turpin 9, Neal 7, Rosenfeld 6, Tollett 2, Morrison 1.

The win moves the Saints into today's championship game against Berryville with the winner claiming a No. 1 seed at next week's 4A-North Regional.

Shiloh Christian coach Jacob Skinner credited his team's press defense with making the Blackhawks play faster than they wanted.

"We pressure full court every game, and we believe that it eventually wears teams down," Skinner said. "We tried to speed them up and get them out of rhythm and fatigued.

"We did enough offensively to win the game, but our defense got them rattled. We tried to run them, we tried to get them out of rhythm, and it paid off tonight."

Pea Ridge shot just 31 percent for the game, a trend that Blackhawks' coach Trent Loyd said has been the case the past two games after they rolled to the regular season championship.

"Our guys just didn't have the energy that they needed to have in a district semifinal," Loyd said. "This is two games in a row we just didn't have the 'it' factor that we needed to have."

The Saints built a nine-point advantage when Jackson Hutchinson banked home a 3-pointer as the third-quarter buzzer went off. Nick Coble answered for Pea Ridge with six of his 18 points, as he connected on consecutive shots from behind the arc that brought the Blackhawks within three, 37-34, with 5 minutes, 37 seconds remaining. They'd get no closer, though, as the Saints scored the next 10 points to increase their lead to 13 with 1:42 left to play.

"When we cut it three, we just couldn't get the stops we need," Loyd said. "They did a better job in their press of not giving us easy looks. I thought they were more controlled. They wore us out tonight."

Hutchinson led Shiloh with 13 points. Gregory Bryant finished with 11 points, while also grabbing 13 rebounds.

Berryville 70, Gravette 55

Berryville led by as many as 20 in the second half to advance to today's final.

Kelton Trembly scored 10 third-quarter points to finish with a team-high 21. Dayten Wishon scored 18 for the Lions.

Zach Webb and Jarrett Ray combined for 47 points, with Webb leading the charge with 25, and Ray scoring 22.

Girls: Berryville 48, Prairie Grove 36

Prairie Grove kept things close for three quarters before Berryville outscored the Tigers 18-6 in the fourth-quarter.

The Lady Bobcats (26-1) will play Gravette in today's final round.

Baylea Smith scored 18 to lead Berryville, while Hannah Morrell (11) and Lexy Anderson each scored in double-figures.

Emily Grant scored 12 to lead Prairie Grove.

Gravette 64, Huntsville 48

Maci Campbell and Josie Sisk combined for 35 points for Huntsville, but it wasn't enough as Gravette pulled away in the fourth quarter.

The Lady Eagles were within striking distance for three quarters, but a fourth-quarter flurry secured the victory for Gravette. The Lady Lions led by 10 entering the final quarter, but outscored the Lady Eagles 14-8 in the final quarter to take the 29-point victory.

Sisk led all scorers with 19 points. Campbell scored 16 for Huntsville.

Cally Kildow scored 16 to lead Gravette, and Kyrstin Branscum scored 13 for the Lady Lions.

Preps Basketball on 02/17/2018

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