Mohawks drop two in conference

The Piggott Mohawks continued to toil through the second half of this year's basketball season last week, losing at home to the Hoxie Mustangs on Tuesday night and then dropping a five-point loss at Hughes on Friday.

Last Tuesday night the Hoxie Mustangs, ranked by many among the top ten 3A programs in the state this year, visited the PHS gym and took home an 84-72 win. The Mustang's big man, Ray Volner, led the way with 34 points and 14 rebounds in the win while the Mohawks had five players score in double-figures led by Rob Rice with 21.

In the two team's first meeting, back on Dec. 4, the Mustangs had easily handled the Tribe at Hoxie. In last week's re-match the Mohawks never quit, and were able to keep the score much closer despite the fact that they trailed throughout.

Unlike their first meeting, the Mohawks hung with the Mustangs in the early going and trailed by just five points at the end of the first quarter as the score stood 21-16. In the second frame the Mustangs extended the lead to eleven, as they went into the locker room at halftime leading by a score of 41-30. The visitors stretched it to a 16 point lead, as they were up 64-48, going into the final period of play. In the fourth quarter the Mohawks outscored the Mustangs as they cut the final difference to 12 points.

Along with the 21 points from Rob Rice, the Mohawks got 15 points from Chuck Rice, Tyler Grubb finished with 11 while Blake Burkman and Sam Yates had 10 points each.

Mohawks at Hughes

The Piggott Mohawks traveled to Hughes last Friday night and played the nightcap of a four-game set against the Blue Devils. And, despite a 22 point performance by Chuck Rice, the Tribe dropped a 52-57 decision.

It was homecoming for the Blue Devils, and the gym at Hughes High School was packed accordingly for the set with the Tribe. Having beaten Hughes earlier in the year, as they posted their first win of the season, the Mohawks were looking forward to the contest.

As the game got underway both teams had trouble scoring early. In fact the Mohawks didn't score for nearly two minutes, and broke the drought with a Chuck Rice three-pointer. Both teams had trouble from the free-throw line as well, something that would continue throughout the game. As the first quarter drew to a close a Rob Rice three-pointer at the buzzer was waved-off and the score stood at 12-15 in favor of the Blue Devils.

In the second period both teams continued to shoot poorly from the floor, and the free-throw line, and Hughes extended their lead to 34-25 by the halftime intermission. Once again, a last second three-pointer was waved-off at the buzzer, this time on a shot by Blake Burkman.

The Mohawks came out in the third quarter and stepped up both their offensive and defensive pressure. As a result they Tribe went on a run that saw them outscore the home team 13-8 in the period. At the end of the third quarter the Blue Devil lead was cut to just four points as the score stood at 42-38.

In the fourth quarter the Mohawks continued to pressure the home team, and about mid-way through the period they tied the score at 48-48. But the Blue Devils responded and pushed back into the lead. Down the stretch the Tribe turned the ball over several times, and missed a couple of key free-throws, as Hughes held on for the 57-52 win.

On the game the Mohawks were led by Chuck Rice with 22 points, Rob Rice finished with 17, Burkman and Yates had five each and Grubb finished with three. Hamilton paced the Blue Devils with 16 points in the win. As a team the Mohawks shot a dismal 12 of 32 from the free-throw line while Hughes was 22 of 31 from the charity stripe.

With the loss the Mohawks fell to 6-12 on the season and 4-8 in 3A-3 conference play.

The Tribe was scheduled to visit the Brookland Bearcats Tuesday night and will host the Warriors of EPC this Friday night for homecoming at PHS.

The first contest of the evening Friday will be a junior "B" game at 5 p.m. followed by the junior and senior varsity contests.