GRAVETTE — Elkins had all the chances in the world and finally took advantage of them in the last 3 minutes.
The Elks shot poorly from the field almost the entire game before making a couple of key shots late to take a 45-42 nonconference victory against Gravette on Friday.
Elkins (4-6) made 18 of 53 (34 percent) from the floor but Grant Gash and Aaron England made consecutive shots late to win it.
The Elks still had to survive David O’Brien’s 3-point attempt at the buzzer that bounced off the rim. England had two opportunities to ice the game from the free-throw line in the last 7.6 seconds but missed front ends of two one-and-one foul situations.
The Lions (2-9) helpedalleviate the Elks’ shooting woes by struggling to maintain control of the ball throughout the game. Leading 42-40 with a little more than 4 minutes left, Gravette committed eight consecutive turnovers before O’Brien’s desperation shot.
“It’s an ongoing problem,” Gravette coach Dustin Peters said. “We turned the ball over too many times to have a legitimate chance of winning.” Gravette committed 26 turnovers.
Smith called timeout with 2:53 left in the game and with Elkins trailing 42-40. Coming out of the timeout, Gash hit a three-pointer to give the Elks a 43-42 lead and, after another Lion turnover, England hit a jumper to give his team the 45-42.
Cody Montee ledGravette scoring with 13, Daniels had 9, O‘Brien and Hendren 7 apiece, McGarrah 4 and Bilderback 4.
Elkins 50, Gravette 45
Maddie Grube scored 26 points as the Lady Elks (5-5) defeated the Lady Lions (6-5).
Kaitlynn Brown added 13 points for Elkins. The Lady Elks trailed 21-20 at halftime but took control of the game when they outscored Gravette 18-11 in the third quarter.
Elkins led by as many as 11 points in the fourth quarter.
In the girls game, Julia Himsl led Gravette with 13, Bayley had 9, Alsup 7, Newell 6 and VanOtterloo and Detring 5 apiece.
The next action will be tournament games at Alma and the regular season resumes on January 5 when the Lions will the Huntsville Eagles.
Sports, Pages 12 on 12/23/2009