Mohawks beat Lions at home

The Piggott Mohawks posted an important conference win last Tuesday night at PHS, beating the Manila Lions 79-63. Junior Rob Rice scorched the nets for the Tribe with 28 points in the win. The contest marked the second meeting of the year between the two squads, as the Lions had won the earlier meeting by seven points in the Mohawks' season-opener at Manila. This time around the Piggott squad came out aggressively and jumped to the early lead, one they would never relinquish.

"It took about a quarter for them to adjust to our press," Piggott Coach Paul Seegraves later noted. "By then we had a good lead, and as the game went on everyone got to play."

As the Lions worked to adjust to the press, the Mohawks ran out to the early lead and were up 23-4 by the end of the first quarter. The lead stood at 20 points at the halftime break as the Tribe was up 52-32, and the home team enjoyed an 18 point lead at the end of the third quarter as the score stood 67-49 Piggott.

Also scoring in double figures for the Mohawks were Chuck Rice with 19, Tyler Grubb with 11 and Blake Burkman with 10. Rounding out the scoring were Ethan Midkiff with eight, and Sam Yates with three. Blake Wheeler led the Lions with 31, while All-NEA Tournament selection Trey McCormick was held to 11 points.

On the night the Mohawks attempted 29 free throws and converted on 17 of those attempts, while the Lions were 9 of 11 from the charity stripe.

With the win the Mohawks improve to 6-10 on the season and 4-6 in conference play. With the loss the Lions fall to 6-10 overall and 5-4 in conference. The current standings have Manila in fourth place, and the Mohawks holding-down the fifth spot in the 3A-3 conference.

Tuesday night the Tribe was scheduled to host the lead-leading Hoxie Mustangs at PHS with the seventh grade, junior high and senior boys scheduled to play. The Mustangs are currently ranked eighth in the state in class 3A by MaxPreps.com. Friday night the boys are scheduled to travel to Hughes and they'll visit the Brookland Bearcats next Tuesday evening.