MORRILTON -- Pottsville got its act together late Saturday night, and it came at just the right time.
The Apaches scored 20 of the game's final 22 points to overcome a fourth-quarter deficit and beat Morrilton 52-39 to capture the 4A-North Regional championship at Devil Dog Arena.
Senior forward Carter Horton scored 18 points and hauled in 11 rebounds for Pottsville (26-4), which tackled adversity in the final quarter to win for the 13th consecutive time. The victory was also the Apaches' fourth over Morrilton this season. Senior center Wesley Heikes had 16 points while senior forward Logan Porter finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds for Pottsville.
Freshman guard Joseph Pinion had 14 points and senior guard Xavier Wright added 11 for Morrilton (19-12), which had the Apaches right where it wanted in the fourth until a key timeout from Pottsville Coach Shane Thurman turned the tide.
Wright's lay-up gave Morrilton a 37-32 lead with 7:07 left moments before Thurman called a timeout to get his team's attention.
"We start four seniors and a junior, and they've been through it several times," Thurman said. "So we just said 'this is where we come together.' We had to regroup a little bit, and coming out of that timeout, we were a different team."
A short hook from Heikes started a string of 14 consecutive points for the Apaches. By the time Pinion scored inside with less than two minutes left, Pottsville had built a seven-point lead. Morrilton made things harder of itself by turning the ball over four times during that stretch, all of which the Apaches converted into points.
"I thought when [Pottsville] pressed us early on, that's when we got a lead," Morrilton Coach Keith Zachary said. "But when we got that lead, we started getting tight. We missed five-footers, missed one-and-ones. And Pottsville's a seasoned, veteran team.
"Every time we missed or committed a turnover, they scored, and that's what the good teams do. They make you pay."
A steal and conversion from junior guard Kade Mainhart pushed Pottsville's lead to 24-15 with 19 seconds showing but a 25-footer from senior guard Jansen Bell got the Devil Dogs within six at halftime.
Morrilton scored five of its six field goals from three-point range in the first half but didn't settle for outside shots in the second half. The Devil Dogs attacked the interior and used that method to take their first lead since early in the first quarter. Wright's three-point play with less than a minute left in the third quarter gave Morrilton a 33-32 advantage.
Pinion and Wright scored on consecutive possessions at the start of the fourth quarter to push the Devil Dogs' margin to five before Thurman's timeout led to Pottsville's eruption.
"[Morrilton] is a really good team, especially at home, and we knew that," Thurman said. "But when we had to dig down deep, we did. We got key steals, key buckets. ... I'm just proud of how they responded and did the things they needed to do to pull it out."
Sports on 02/24/2019