Basketball: Pea Ridge boys, Berryville girls win 4A-1 tourney

Blackhawks fend off late rally to upend top-seeded Huntsville

BERRYVILLE -- Pea Ridge was tagged with a technical foul before Saturday's 4A-1 Conference Tournament even began. One of its reserves dunked in pregame -- a no-no by rule.

Jack Eaton sank one of two free throws to spot the Eagles a short-lived lead.

Boys

Pea Ridge, Huntsville

Pea Ridge^17^7^15^7^—^46

Huntsville^7^12^9^10^—^39

Pea Ridge (27-3): Caudill 17, Thomas 14, Hall 5, Wright 5, Church 3, Holtgrewe 2.

Huntsville (26-4): Eaton 20, Yarbrough 8, Siegrist 8, Pemberton 4.

Girls

Berryville 37, Huntsville 35, 2OT

Huntsville^6^14^7^4^2^2^—^35

Berryville^9^2^15^5^2^4^—^37

Huntsville (21-9): Gosvenor 11, Watkins 9, Tipton 8, Campbell 6, McCone 1.

Berryville (18-11): B. Smith 16, Lexy Anderson 9, Hopper 5, Morrell 4, A. Smith 3.

It was their only lead of the game.

Second-seeded Pea Ridge scored the next seven points on their way to a 46-39 victory over No. 1 Huntsville to win the title.

The Blackhawks (27-3) led by as many as 15 points late in the third quarter before having to fend off a furious rally by the Eagles (26-4) as they cut it to 39-33 on a bucket by Eaton with five minutes, 45 seconds remaining in regulation.

After a free throw by Pea Ridge's Britton Caudill, Eaton -- who led all scorers with 20 points -- sandwiched a pair of floaters in the lane around two free throws by Pea Ridge's Matt Thomas to trim the margin to 42-37 with 2:08 remaining in regulation.

On the ensuing possession, Huntsville forced an errant pass to regain possession and Clay Siegrist capitalized by driving the left side of the lane for a bucket that made it 42-39 with 1:09 remaining.

That was as close as it would get.

The Blackhawks answered when Caudill made a nice dish to Thomas for an easy bucket. After a miss by Siegrist on the other end, Joey Hall sank a pair of free throws to secure the victory and the championship.

Pea Ridge built a 17-7 lead by the end of the first quarter. The Eagles (26-4) didn't hit a field goal in the first quarter, which was salvaged by Eaton's seven free throws.

Following a pair of 3-pointers by Kenton Yarbrough, Eaton hit two more free throws to cut the deficit to 19-15 midway through the second quarter. The teams traded buckets the rest of the way and Pea Ridge maintained a 24-19 lead at halftime.

Caudill began the second half with back-to-back buckets. Both could have been three-point plays, but he missed the "and-one" free throws.

The senior made up for it with two more plays before the end of the third quarter. Caudill, who finished with a team-high 17 points, completed 3-point play and later rebounded a missed free throw and put it back in to increase the lead to 39-24, but Huntsville answered with a 9-0 run to cut the margin to 39-33.

Girls

Berryville 37, Huntsville 35, 2OT

During a seed meeting for the 4A-1 Conference Tournament, Berryville coach Daniel Cornelison argued his team deserved the No. 1 seed despite its losing record during combined district play.

His was the lone vote cast for his Lady Bobcats from 4A-1 coaches.

On Saturday, second-seeded Berryville knocked off top-seeded Huntsville in double overtime in front of a packed Bobcats Arena.

"I said we should have been the No. 1 seed because we had just beat (Huntsville) by 22 points," Cornelison said. "So this is a little justification for how I felt, but you have to give Huntsville credit for the way they played. It was just a phenomenal game and a

Sophomore Baylea Smith, who led all scorers with 16 points, hit a bucket with under a minute to play in the second overtime and Lexy Anderson iced the victory with a pair of free throws following a Lady Eagle miss on the other end.

"We had our opportunities, but just couldn't get it done against a fine team," said Huntsville coach Charles Berry, who's Lady Eagles led 20-11 at halftime. "Both teams played extremely hard and it's too bad both teams couldn't have won it."

Sports on 02/19/2017

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