After a back-and-forth first half, National Park grabbed the final lead of the game off a bucket by Hot Springs grad KaJuan Christon with 1:08 off the clock in the second half and never looked back as the Nighthawks downed Rhema Bible College 110-105 in The Kettle Wednesday night.
The Eagles held a 47-46 lead at the break, and Del Jelley sank a pair of free throws 27 seconds into the second half to push the visitors out to a 3-point lead. A layup by sophomore Reyhan Cobb cut the spread to 1 before Rhema's Rudy Pittman's 3-point attempt rang off the iron and into the hands of freshman Terry Clardy Jr., who regained control of the ball after it was poked away, and just after crossing midcourt Clardy dished the ball in to Christon, a sophomore, for the easy layup for a 50-49 lead.
The layup sparked a 12-2 run that pushed the Nighthawks out to a 60-51 lead with 3:20 off the clock. NPC pushed out to a 71-58 lead at the 13:10 mark, but Rhema cut the spread to 7 just over two minutes later, 75-68.
With 6:35 remaining freshman Joe Ramey got a putback off a missed 3-pointer by Christon for the Nighthawks' largest lead of the night, 90-76, but the Eagles quickly cut the deficit down to 10. Despite losing three starters over the period and two in the final two minutes, Rhema put up back-to-back 3s to cut the spread down to 5 with 1:49 left in the game.
"I'm proud of my kids," said Rhema head coach Perry Shockley. "My kids, we battled. Three guys fouled out and came back to 2 or 3 points there in the last minute. My kids believe. I got two kids just came at semester, so we're still young and growing, but I was proud to see them compete and not give up against such a tremendous difference in talented athletic ability. I think we've got some talent, but not the size athletically, but we can shoot the ball."
Rhema managed to cut its deficit to 4 with 4 seconds on the clock, forcing the team to foul Clardy with 3.4 seconds left. Clardy made one of his attempts at the free throw line, and a desperation throw by Tyree Malone at the buzzer bounced off the back of the rim.
"They can really shoot it," said NPC head coach Jason Hudnell. "They can shoot the ball. We knew that coming in that they wanted to play fast. They want to move the ball. They play a lot like North Ark., who we're going to play this weekend, so that's why it's a good preparation for us. And when they're hitting, they can beat a lot of people, and they were really shooting the ball well tonight. Fortunately, our men were able to get just enough stops to get the W."
While the Nighthawks got on the scoreboard first and tried to control the flow of the game early, they could not stop the Eagles' perimeter shooting as 12 of the team's first 16 points came from behind the arc as Rhema took a 16-13 lead with 5:35 off the clock. NPC regained the lead, holding Rhema at bay until the visiting team went on a 9-0 run to take its largest lead of the night, 36-29, with 7:19 left in the half.
The Nighthawks responded with a 10-0 run for a 39-36 lead with 6:21 to go, but the Eagles knotted the score just over two minutes later, 42-all. NPC pushed out to a 46-44 edge as Clardy went coast-to-coast for a layup with 1:30 remaining, but a trey by Josh Toranzo gave Rhema a single-point lead going into intermission.
Ramey led the Nighthawks with 34 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and 1 block.
"Joe Ramey, he's a tough stop for a lot of teams, and he had 30-plus I think when we went to Oklahoma and played Rhema at their place, knew we had mismatches with him," Hudnell said. "He so quick, can get to the rim in such a hurry and he plays so strong down low, too. There's a lot of teams that have trouble matching up with him. Really proud of the way he played, the effort that he gave."
While he led the team offensively, Ramey is an unselfish player, despite shooting 15 of 21 on the night.
"I just go into the game really just looking to get my teammates started," he said. "If I get them involved, then I can get involved. ... I'm just trying to keep a good consistent pace and just make all the shots possible. I didn't mean to take that many shots though. I credit my teammates for passing it to me though."
Christon added 18 points with 4 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal, Cobb put up 16 points with 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals, and Clardy finished with 13 points, a game-high 12 rebounds, 5 assists and a steal.
Caelyb Kerley led the Eagles with 28 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and a steal, Jelley added 24 points with 6 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 assists and a block, and Rudy Pittman finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds before fouling out. Malone had 15 points, and Toranzo 13.
The Nighthawks are on the road Saturday as they travel to Harrison to take on North Arkansas College at 2 p.m.
Sports on 01/17/2020