GENTRY — Farmington’s come-from-behind, 49-48, win over Gravette in the district semifinal on Friday seemed improbable after the Lions streaked out to a 24-11 first half lead.

Terence Pierce’s free throw propelled Gravette to their biggest lead with 3:31 remaining in the first half, but that would be his only trip to the foul line.

“I thought we were going to lose that game,” said a Cardinal cheerleader in the aftermath as Farmington rallied in the third quarter, outscoring the Lions 15-6 to get back in the contest, then survived multiple shot opportunities by the Lions in the final minute.

Farmington coach Beau Thompson seemed amazed too.

“I’m not sure how we won that game. It was just a grind-out game. We stuck to what we do best. We got it down on the block the last 4 or 5 possessions. We didn’t score every possession but we got it down there.”

Chase Garner scored in the low post to push Farmington ahead, 47-45, at the 59 second mark. The 6-foot-2 senior had his hands wrapped around a defensive rebound after a Gravette miss but had his legs cut out from under him and fell out of bounds.

Gravette inbounded underneath their own goal, but Carson Pollreis’s shot was off and Farmington guard Josh Mueller came up with the loose ball on the baseline amongst an all-out battle for the rebound.

Mueller missed the front end of a 1-and-1 and Gravette had another chance, calling timeout with 10 seconds showing after crossing midcourt. The Lions worked the ball in to 6-foot-5 Otto Troutner in the high post but he fell down in the key, yet somehow turned on his knees and fired up a shot.

Mueller again came away with the rebound and was fouled, stopping the clock with 2 seconds left. This time Mueller was good on good shots giving Farmington a 49-45 cushion, which almost wasn’t enough.

Pierce cranked in a 3-point shot for Gravette at the buzzer from just across half-court, bringing the final margin to 49-48 in favor of Farmington.

Gravette coach Dustin Peters noted both Pierce and Pollreis were in foul trouble in the third and went to the bench whenFarmington made their run.

“That’s a lot of our offense sitting over by me. They don’t do us much good there,” Peters said. “We just made shots in the first half, we didn’t make any in the second.”

Gravette will face Subiaco Academy, a team that Peters described as extremely athletic, in a North Regional first-round game on Thursday, at 5:30 p.m., at Maumelle.

FARMINGTON 49 GRAVETTE 48 Gravette 7 25 6 10 - 48 Farmington 6 16 15 12 - 49 FARMINGTON (20-5): Chase Garner 3 0-0 6, Alex Dellett 3 3-5 9, Matt Brackett 5 0-0 13, Josh Mueller 5 6-6 18, Barrett Oxford 1 0-0 3. Totals 17 9-11 49.

GRAVETTE (7-7, 3-2): Terence Pierce 10 1-2 24, Carson Pollreis 1 3-5 5, Matt VanOtterloo 2 2-2 8, Otto Troutner 3 3-7 9, Cody Nims 1 0-0 2. Totals 17 9-16 48.

3-point goals Gravette 5 (Pierce 3, VanOtterloo 2), Farmington 6 (Brackett 3, Mueller 2, Oxford).

GRAVETTE 58 PRAIRIE GROVE 47 Otto Troutner scored a gamehigh 18 points as Gravette secured a bid to the regional tournament with a late run.

Quinten Parker added 12 points and Terence Pierce 11 for the Lions. Derek Arguello led the Tigers with 10 points.

Sports, Pages 9 on 02/20/2013