GENTRY -- Summer is a time for swimming, fishing and baseball. For some area athletes and coaches, however, summer means breaking out the Snickers, sports drinks and basketballs and hitting the hardwood.
The Gentry summer basketball league, sponsored by the Gentry High School basketball program, is open to any teams from the Northwest Arkansas area. Throughout the month of July, games are played each Tuesday and Thursday in the Gentry High School gym, with the first game beginning at 4 p.m.
Each game consists of two 18-minute halves with a five minute halftime. There are no personal fouls, but team fouls are assessed with one and one shots on the seventh foul and one shot for two points on the 10th.
Seven teams have entered the event, including two teams from Gentry and one each from Decatur, Farmington, Greenland, Rogers and Gravette. Organizers are still taking entries to the event, so more teams may be added to the roster as July progresses.
Most of the teams have played each other during the regular season. Decatur, however, being the only class 2A team in the league, only plays against teams like 4A Gravette, Gentry and Farmington in tournaments. Decatur took on two teams outside of its 2A league during the first night of summer play, class 4A Farmington Cardinals and class 7A Rogers Mounties.
On July 10, Decatur and Farmington met to kick off the series. Both teams came off the bench ready to play. Decatur made the first bucket of the program but, from that point on, it was mostly a defensive game with the intensity of a league championship.
At about the 10-minute mark of the first half, Decatur head basketball coach, John Unger, urged the referee to slow down the game.
"You need to slow down the game or someone is going to get hurt," Unger said.
About a minute later, Decatur's Mario Urquidi was knocked down by a Farmington player and hit his head on the floor. Urquidi stayed down for a few seconds before he shook it off and got back into the game. From that point on, the official kept the intensity level in check.
The score bounced back and forth in the second half of play. But still both defenses kept scoring to a minimum. The game ended with the Bulldogs defeating the Cardinals 18 to 14.
It was a very different scenario for Decatur in the final game of the night as it took on the Rogers Mounties. While Mario Urquidi made several key defensive plays, including two blocked shots, and Victor Urquidi moved the offense down court with a few moves that caught Rogers off guard, Decatur could not keep up with Rogers. The game ended with the Mounties defeating the Bulldogs 33 to 24.
Gravette took on class rival Farmington in the third game of the series. The Lions came out strong, taking the lead early in the first half. In the second half, it was a different story as the Gravette defense made several key mistakes that cost them the lead and eventually the game. The game went to the Cardinals 51 to 47.
Gravette and Gentry went head to head in the fifth game of the night. From the start, Gentry came out strong, taking command of the game early and never looking back. In the second half, Gravette's offense had a very hard time connecting with the net. Yet, the Lions played strong defensively, preventing the Pioneers from making it a blow out. Gentry did come away with the win.
For head basketball coach Dustin Peters, this would be his last game for the Gravette Lions. Peters resigned July 14 to take a job near his family in Ozark. Gravette has already started a search for a new basketball coach.
The summer league continues for the next two weeks as the teams gear up for conference play in the late fall.
On Thursday at 4 p.m. Gravette plays Decatur. At 5:30 p.m. Greenland plays Gravette
Gentry (team 1) plays Decatur at about 7:45 p.m.
Sports on 07/16/2014