By Jeff Kessinger (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Imagine toeing the free throw line with four seconds to play, with a chance to ice a victory for your team. That thought alone might give you spaghetti legs, but you are not Ryce Piper.
The Hartville senior coolly sank a pair of free throws in the final seconds to give his Eagles a 62-58 win over Viola (Ark.) Friday night at Baptist Bible College’s W.E. Dowell Fieldhouse.
“I eat those situations up, honestly,” Piper said, unable to stop from smiling. “Big situations are exciting, honestly. It’s thrilling. We practice those clutch situations and shoot tons of free throws every single game, so that’s just a focal point of our team. We got the job done tonight.”
Piper feasted all night. He scored 27 points to lead all scorers, including a 9-for-10 performance from the foul line in the second half. The Eagles needed every single one of them thanks to an impressive defensive performance by Viola.
“They mixed it up a lot between the different defenses they play,” Hartville coach Brett Reed said. “It gave us fits, kind of had us on our heels a little bit. We were fortunate to get a few big buckets when we needed them.”
The Longhorns held Hartville to just two field goals in the final 10:39 seconds of clock time to stay in the game. Viola trailed by double digits on two occasions, but had a rally both times.
Blaine Marberry sparked a fourth quarter surge with a 3-pointer from the top of the key and a bucket in the lane. Gage Harris then scored on a putback to slash Hartville’s lead to 49-48 with six minutes to play.
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“I think the key tonight was rebounds,” Viola coach Rick Luna said. “In every loss we’ve had this season we’ve been right there, but we got outrebounded. In the second half we did a better job of keeping them off the offensive boards, but you’ve got to play four quarters.”
Free throws from Piper gave Hartville some breathing room, but another rebound basket — this one by Mason Luna — had the Longhorns as close as 52-50 with four minutes to play.
This time it was Brady Ward’s turn to be the hero. His 3-pointer was Hartville’s first, and only, field goal in the fourth quarter and it gave the Eagles just enough breathing room. Hartville, ranked No. 1 in Class 3, went 7-for-8 from the line in the last minute to play to improve to 22-0 on the season.
“Any different kid each night, it seems like, hits a big shot for us,” Reed said. “Brady’s done that for us his whole career. When he shoots it — and pretty much any of these guys shoot it — I feel like it’s going to go in. We’ve been in a lot of games like this where free throws are big, and we’ve been in some games where we’ve missed too many. Going down the stretch free throws are going to be huge for us.”
Three Eagles scored in double figures, including Piper. Ward chipped in 10, while Braden Branstetter added 12.
“Going down the stretch, especially going into the playoffs, games like these prepare us really well. We’ll have to find a way to get the job done at the end.”
The Longhorns were paced by 20 from Mason Luna. Harris scored 14, while Bryson Luna and Marberry scored 12 and 10 respectively.
Viola, ranked No. 5 in Arkansas’ Class 1A, falls to 26-6. This was a long road trip for the Longhorns, approximately 130 miles from their campus to BBC. Viola also visited Springfield to play Greenwood back in January. But those aren’t even the longest trips they’ve taken this season as Rick Luna toughens up his squad for the stretch run.
“I feel like playing these better teams is only going to make us better,” he said. “We took a three-and-a-half hour bus ride to Bentonville. We went down to Jacksonville. We’ve put the miles in. I want to go play good competition and tonight is going to make us better for the run down the stretch.”
This game might be the final contest in a long-running rivalry between Hartville and the Luna family, which moved from Dora to Viola this offseason. And, fittingly, Luna thinks the series might be tied.
“My boys and those guys have known each other since they were in diapers,” Luna said. “It’s a great rivalry. I’ve enjoyed playing Coach Reed, He does a great job. It makes us better and hopefully it makes them better.’
“We’ve played against those guys for years and they are great competitors. They always have been,” Reed said. “We’ve had some great battles over the years and we were fortunate to come away with a win tonight.”
Box Score
HHS 18 15 15 14 — 62
VHS 15 15 11 17 — 58
Hartville — Ryce Piper 27, Braden Branstetter 12, Brady Ward 10, Cody Mahan 8, Eric Wilson 3, Eli Cook 2
Viola — Mason Luna 20, Gage Harris 14, Bryson Luna 12, Blaine Marberry 10, Auson Luna 2
