Hawks Soar: Pleasant Grove overcomes Tatum for playoff victory

Pleasant Grove's Aaron Harmon goes up strong but is fouled by Tatum's Shay Rodgers during Friday's 4A Area Playoff game. The Hawks won, 72-56.
Pleasant Grove's Aaron Harmon goes up strong but is fouled by Tatum's Shay Rodgers during Friday's 4A Area Playoff game. The Hawks won, 72-56.

In the 1939 classic "The Wizard of Oz", Dorothy says there's no place like home, and it was no different for Pleasant Grove.

The Hawks, after winning a coin flip to earn home-court advantage, never trailed as they defeated Tatum 72-56 in a Class 4A area basketball playoff game at Hawk Gym.

"The atmosphere and crowd was great," Hawk head coach Billy Brewer said. "Our guys came out and played hard with their intensity. They played phenomenal; they hustled and got after it."

Aaron Harmon, who finished with 12 points, hit a jump shot, Connor Ouellette made a layup, and Cory Jones hit a layup to give Pleasant Grove a 6-0 lead.

Later in the first, the Hawks went on a 9-0 run to take a 10-point lead. Aaron Harmon hit a pair of charity shots and a layup, Luke Harmon nailed down a 3-pointer, and Aaron Harmon banked a layup during the run.

Shay Rodgers, who had 13 points for the Eagles, hit two free throws, and OB Jones, who had a team-high 17 points and seven rebounds, drove inside for a layup to close to within six points. It was as close as Tatum would get to Pleasant Grove.

PG's 6-foot-3 Xavier Benson did well defensively against the 6-foot-5 Rodgers, not allowing any easy entry passes to the Tatum big man.

"Part of our game plan was to keep Shay Rodgers from scoring too much," Brewer said. "He's going to get his points."

The Hawks hit on 5 of 13 field goals in the second quarter, while the Eagles were 3 for 10. Pleasant Grove went into the locker room up 36-26.

Ouellette scored 10 of his game-high 27 points in the third quarter for the Hawks. Ouellette finished with a double-double as he grabbed 11 rebounds and went 10-of-11 from the charity stripe.

Jones paced Tatum with six points in the third, but PG went up by nine points after three.

Cory Jones, who scored 14 points for the Hawks, lit up the nets for eight points in the fourth as did teammate Ouellette. Pleasant Grove outscored Tatum 21-14 in the final
frame.

The Hawks shot 45 percent from the field (25 of 56), while the Eagles were 21 of 45 for 47 percent. The turnovers were even at 18 each. PG out-rebounded Tatum 39-27.

Tatum ends its season at 15-20, while the Hawks improved to 22-9.

Pleasant Grove will play either Center or Mabank in the Class 4A regional quarterfinals.

 

Tatum         13 13 16 14 - 56

PG         19 17 15 21 - 72

TATUM (56): Wallace 3 0-0 6, Mitchell 1 0-2 2, Boyd 2 2-6 7, Jones 8 0-0 17, Rodgers 2 9-12 13, Vandre 1 0-0 2, J. Smith 4 0-0 9, TOTALS 21 11-20 56.

PG (72): Edwards 2 1-2 6, Jones 7 0-0 14, Austin 0 3-5 3, A. Harmon 5 2-2 12, Benson 1 2-4 4, Ouellette 8 10-11 27, L. Harmon 2 0-0 6, TOTALS 25 18-24 72.

3-point goals: TAT-Boyd, Jones, J. Smith. PG-L. Harmon 2, Ouellette, Edwards. Team fouls: Tatum 20, Pleasant Grove 17.

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