Mohawks drop two at Rivercrest

Coming off a fairly long holiday break, the Piggott Mohawks returned to action Monday night with a trip to Rivercrest and a meeting with the potent Colts. Both the junior and senior boys dropped their conference games to the home team, although he junior boys gave the Rivercrest fans a good scare as they fell by just three points.

Senior boys

On the road at Wilson Monday night the Mohawks ran into a buzz saw, as the Rivercrest Colts had four players score in double figures as they eased past the Tribe 30-64. Even with the starters pulled late, the home team dominated each frame, never allowing more than ten points in a quarter.

As the contest got underway the Colts quickly doubled-up the Tribe, and lead 9-20 by the end of the first quarter. They extended that lead to 20 points by the halftime break, and took a 17-37 lead into the locker room at intermission.

The Mohawks had their most productive quarter in the third, as they scored 10 points in the frame--but the Colts answered with 21 points of their own and the score stood at 27-58 going into the fourth period.

In the fourth quarter the Colts cleared the bench, but still outscored the Mohawks 6-3 in the period as they went on to take the win by a final of 64-30.

Alek Samples had 11 points for the Tribe in the loss, while Spencer Coomer, Tanner Murray and Zac Redmon finished with 6 points each. Demoine Brown, T. J. Gordon and Tevin Howard each had 12 points in the win, while Terrence Banks finished with 11 for the Colts.

Junior boys

The junior Mohawks visited Rivercrest Monday night, and gave the home team a run for their money as they dropped a 27-30 conference road loss. Looking back on the loss, one of the keys has to be the fact that the Tribe was only 13 of 32 from the free-throw line--well below 50-percent. Meanwhile, the Colts were also fairly dismal from the charity stripe as they converted on just 4 of 10 attempts.

Both teams got off to a slow start Monday night, and at the end of the first quarter the score stood 2-6 in favor of the Colts. In the second quarter the Mohawks cut that lead some, and the score stood 9-11 in favor of Rivercrest at the halftime break.

In the third period the Colts outscored the Tribe 10-6, and the Mohawks trailed the home team 15-21 going into the final frame. In the fourth quarter the scrappy Mohawks outscored Rivercrest 12-9 in the period, but it was too little, too late, as the Colts hung on for the three point win.

Austin Murray, Collin Benbrook and Bea Wicker each had 6 points in the loss, while R. Stewart paced the junior Colts with 8 points in the victory.

Both the junior and senior boys were slated to host the Corning Bobcats Tuesday evening at PHS, as they'll play in the final two games of a four game set with the girls teams. Friday night they're scheduled to visit the Manila Lions, and next Tuesday, Jan. 19 they'll host the Rivercrest Colts with the seventh grade, junior high and senior high teams in action.