Mohawks fall at district to Colts

The Piggott Mohawks ended the 2008-09 high school basketball season on the same floor where they began this year's campaign, as they fell to the Rivercrest Colts 59-68 in the second round of the district tournament at Tuckerman. The loss left the Tribe one game over .500 for the season, and just one game shy of qualifying for to this week's regional tournament at Bergman.

The Mohawks had advanced to the second round with a decisive 78-62 win over the Manila Lions last Tuesday evening. And with that win they found themselves facing the Colts for the third time this season, after gaining a regular season split with the talented young squad. On the other hand the Colts had advanced with a 90-73 first round win over the host Bulldogs Monday night to set-up the showdown.

As the contest got underway the Mohawks immediately began to try to capitalize on their distinct size advantage and get the ball inside against the smaller, but somewhat qucker, Colts. Seniors Sam Yates and Tyler Grubb pounded-in a couple of big baskets in the paint, while Rob Rice provided the outside threat with an early three-pointer. Also starting their last game for the squad were Daniel Baldwin and Jonathan Wright. As the first period wound-down the Rivercrest squad, which is made up entirely of underclassmen, made a run and pulled to within two points. The first quarter ended with the Mohawks leading 13-11.

In the second quarter of play the Colts stepped-up the defensive pressure, and got several fast break baskets, as they raised the tempo of the game. As the quarter wound down the two teams found themselves swapping the lead, and with seconds to go in the first half the Colts hit a three-pointer to take a 27-24 lead into the locker room.

As the second half got underway the Colts continued to chip away at the Mohawks, and the Tribe continued to send Rivercrest players to the foul line. On the game they visited the charity stripe a total of 30 times, converting on 15 of those attempts. As a team the Mohawks shot 19 free throw attempts on the game, and converted on 11. During the third quarter Rivercrest outscored the Tribe 13-10 as they took a 40-34 lead into the final frame.

In that fourth quarter the Colts went on a run, as they extended the lead to 48-36 by the 6:30 mark. The Mohawks then answered with a run of their own and cut the lead to nine. Throughout the remainder of the fourth quarter the two teams swapped baskets, though the Mohawks could never pull any closer. Late in the contest the Tribe's foul trouble also became an issue, and Baldwin fouled-out of the game with just minutes to play. The final points of the game came from Rice as he made two free-throws to make it 59-68 in favor of the Colts.

Leading the way in their final game was Sam Yates with 20 points, Rob Rice with 12 and Tyler Grubb with 10. Meanwhile, Daniel Baldwin and Tanner Murray had six points each, Jonathan Perkins had three and Trent Edwards finished with two. The Colts were led by T.J. Gordon and Demoine Brown with 21 points each.

With the loss the Mohawks end their season at 12-11 overall with a fifth place finish in the 3A-3 conference. The Colts went on to beat Earle in the semi-finals Friday and Saturday night beat the Corning Bobcats 78-75 in triple-overtime to claim the district title. They were scheduled to take on Yellville-Summit at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 25, in the regional tournament at Bergman.