PEA RIDGE -- Pea Ridge made 6-of-6 from the free-throw line in the final minutes to hold off a late Gentry charge and earn the 46-41 win in 4A-1 Conference play Friday night.
The Blackhawks (17-3, 7-1 4A-1) avenged their only league loss back in December at Gentry and notched their 11th consecutive victory.
Boys
Pea Ridge 46, Gentry 41
Gentry^4^6^14^17^—^41
Pea Ridge^6^14^11^15^—^46
Gentry (12-6, 5-3): Cripps 11, Clark 10, Taylor 8, Juilerat 6, Faulkenberry 6.
Pea Ridge (17-3, 7-1): Hall 14, Beckmann 11, Holtgrewe 7, Church 7, Wright 5, Caudill 2.
Girls
Gentry 43, Pea Ridge 36
Gentry^13^9^10^11^—^43
Pea Ridge^2^9^13^12^—^36
Gentry (14-4, 6-2): James 27, Fuamatu 6, Ward 5, Morris 3, Hays 2.
Pea Ridge (8-13, 1-7): Anthony 16, Whatley 6, Dayberry 5, Socha 5, Fletcher 4.
Wyatt Clark hit a 3-pointer to pull the Pioneers (12-6, 5-3 4A-1) within 42-39 with 42.4 seconds left, but Pea Ridge got two free throws from Hayden Holtgrewe and two more from Joey Hall to put the game away.
Pea Ridge coach Trent Loyd said Holtgrewe made a huge play a little earlier that likely turned the tide in the Blackhawks' favor.
The 6-foot sophomore missed the front end of a one-and-one with 1:20 left, but Holtgrewe ran down the rebound. The possession ended with Hall canning two free throws to put Pea Ridge up by six at the 1:03 mark.
"Hayden has been an energy guy for us since he was inserted in the starting lineup back in mid-December," Loyd said. "That's the stuff he does. Just plays like that. He's got that edge and want. It was a huge, huge possession, then we convert."
Gentry coach Sean Price agreed it was key as his team was gaining some momentum.
"We just don't focus," Price said. "We don't block out. I kind of felt like the momentum was turning our way. It just didn't work out and that's part of basketball. We've just got to battle through it. I was very proud of our kids. We need to take this as a springboard knowing that we're a good basketball team."
Hall led all scorers with 14 points, while 6-5 Bryce Beckmann chipped in 11 for Pea Ridge. Cole Cripps led Gentry with 11 and Clark added 10.
Pea Ridge looked as though it would take control, leading by as many as 11 in the third quarter. But Gentry fought back to get within 37-34 on Matt Juilerat's runner with under 3 minutes left.
Beckmann, who returned from a knee injury about a month ago, played a big role in the Blackhawks' win, too, Loyd said.
"He came off the bench and gave us a huge spark," Loyd said. "Rebounding, post moves, that's some of the things we've been waiting on him to do. And he's getting back and I think he's full speed and he proved that tonight.
"When you can go inside-out, it gets pressure off our guards and we're very capable of doing that. He gave us a couple extra possessions that we needed in the fourth quarter."
Girls: Gentry 43, Pea Ridge 36
The Lady Pioneers hit 5 of 6 free throws over the final 1:28 to hold off a late charge by the Lady Blackhawks.
Hailey James poured in a game-high 27 points for Gentry (14-4, 6-2 4A-1), including four big free throws in the final minutes to help the Lady Pioneers secure the win.
Pea Ridge (8-13, 1-7) trailed 22-11 at halftime, but pulled within 34-30 with 3:42 left. But James scored on a drive and Hannah Boss added a stickback to push the Lady Pioneers' lead back to eight and Gentry was good from the foul line to put the game away.
Jennifer Anthony led the Lady Blackhawks with 16 points.
Sports on 01/23/2016