Regional-Bound

The Berryville Bobcats pulled off two big accomplishments in the 4A-1 District Tournament last week.

First, the Bobcats defeated Huntsville 61-46 in the tournament quarterfinals on Tuesday, Feb. 17, to clinch their second consecutive appearance in the regional tournament, which begins this week.

Three nights later, the Bobcats wiped out a 21-point second-half deficit to beat Prairie Grove 56-54 in the district semifinals on Friday, Feb. 20, to advance to the championship game against Shiloh Christian on the Saints’ home floor in Springdale.

Shiloh Christian won that game, but Berryville’s season will continue in this week’s regional tournament at Prairie Grove.

The Bobcats (24-9) enter the regional as a No. 2 seed and will take on Ozark (24-5) in a first-round game scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 26. The Hillbillies are the No. 3 seed from the 4A-4. The winner of Thursday’s game will advance to the regional semifinals and clinch a spot in the Class 4A state tournament next week in Morrilton.

“Ozark’s really good,” Berryville coach Brent Compton said. “They’re real physical, really athletic. If you leave them open, they can shoot it. They’re real dynamic offensively. Everybody’s good right now. We’re good. They’re good. We’re going to have to play really well.”

In the district quarterfinals against Huntsville, Berryville fell behind by nine points at the end of the first quarter, but outscored the Eagles 23-6 in the second quarter to take a 34-26 halftime lead.

The Bobcats hit four three-pointers in the second quarter, with four players each connecting once in the quarter. They extended their lead to 45-34 at the end of the third quarter.

Senior Peyton Smith led Berryville with 24 points while junior Carson McMellon added 10 as the Bobcats beat Huntsville for the third time this season.

In the semifinals against Prairie Grove, which split two regular-season games with Berryville, the Bobcats fell behind 34-17 by halftime. The Tigers extended their lead to 42-21 in the third quarter and Compton was on the verge of emptying the Bobcats’ bench.

“I was down to my last resort, honestly,” Compton said. “I told the kids, if we don’t pick it up and get after them in the full court with our press that we’re putting in, we’re fixing to do a lot of subbing. And it just started happening.”

Compton said Prairie Grove probably was caught off guard when the Bobcats began pressing.

“We’re not a pressing team, so they probably never thought one second or practiced one second leading into that game regarding a press,” he said. “And, honestly, we probably hadn’t put too much time into practicing our press. It’s been more like walk-throughs in a last-resort scenario. We only turned them over, I think, one time but what we did was speed them up and made the wrong people for them, right people for us take shots and the momentum just swung our way and we found a way to come all the way back. It was a crazy, crazy second half.”

Junior Jachin Houghton came off the bench to provide a spark for Berryville’s comeback. First, Houghton dropped in a three-pointer from the top of the key to cut Prairie Grove’s lead to 42-24 with 4:24 left in the third quarter. A little more than a minute later, Houghton hit another three-pointer — this one after a pass from his brother Noah, a senior — that made it 4227 with 3:13 remaining in the quarter.

“He played huge in that game,” Compton said of Jachin Houghton. “We had a little foul trouble, had guys tired because of how hard we were playing. And he just stepped up and made some plays.”

Two free throws by Noah Houghton got the Bobcats within 13 at the 2:31 mark. After a Prairie Grove basket, Noah Houghton responded with a three-pointer before Smith scored on a spin move in the lane, drew a foul and converted the three-point play to pull Berryville within single digits at 44-35 with 1:28 to go in the third.

Prairie Grove scored the final four points of the quarter for a 48-35 advantage, but the fourth quarter belonged to the Bobcats.

Smith got it started by converting a tough leaner in traffic, then added another basket to make it 48-39. McMellon’s three-pointer from the right wing got Berryville within six at 48-42 with 6:53 left. After a Prairie Grove basket, Berryville junior John Butler converted a three-point play after being fouled on a fast-break layup. When McMellon hit his second three-pointer of the quarter at the 4:03 mark, the Bobcats were within two at 50-48.

After a Prairie Grove timeout, the Tigers drew up an isolation play for junior guard Kellen Cash. Cash got around one defender and drove to the lane, but Berryville junior Hudson Norris came from the back side and leaped high to block Cash’s shot.

Cash, who scored 36 points in the two teams’ first meeting of the season on Dec. 16 in Berryville, had 17 in the first half on Friday. In the second half, however, he was held to two free throws.

“We started actually executing our game plan in the second half, helping out on ball screens and just making it tougher on him,” Compton said.

The Bobcats couldn’t convert on the possession after Norris’ block, and a Prairie Grove basket put the Tigers up 52-48 with 3:17 remaining. On Berryville’s next possession, however, Norris drove into the lane and then passed to Smith wide-open in the right corner for a three-pointer that cut Prairie Grove’s lead to 52-51 with 2:53 left.

Prairie Grove answered with two free throws at 1:34 but just 18 seconds later, McMellon dropped in a three-pointer from the right wing that finally pulled the Bobcats even at 5454.

The Tigers missed a three-pointer and a putback on their next possession before Butler grabbed a rebound.

Butler then made the second of two free throws with 19.5 seconds left to put the Bobcats ahead.

Smith then blocked a shot by Cash. After being fouled with 3.6 seconds left, Hicks made the second of two free throws and the Bobcats held on from there to reach the championship game.

Smith led Berryville with 19 points — reaching the 1,500-point mark for his high school career. McMellon added 12.

Berryville led Saturday night’s championship game 21-10 at the end of the first quarter behind 12 points from Butler, but Shiloh Christian — undefeated in conference play each of the past two seasons — responded to get within two points by halftime and then outscored the Bobcats 15-6 in the third quarter to take control.

Butler finished with 19 and Smith added 18 for Berryville.