Peebles’ Blake Hawes (24) rises above the Fayetteville defense for two of his 14 points in the Indians’ 60-54 win over the Rockets on Jan. 5.

By Mark Carpenter – 
Photo by Kimberly Browning – 

One of the staples of Coach Josh Arey’s Peebles basketball squads is their attention to detail and discipline, and their ability not to panic no matter what the situation. The Indians needed every ounce of that discipline last friday night as they entertained the Fayetteville Rockets in Southern Hills Athletic Conference action.
The Rockets brought to town a solid squad with a nice blend of guard play and size, and in the third quarter, held a 10-point lead in the third quarter, but the Indians didn’t panic and chipped away at that deficit, getting some clutch baskets from Blake Hawes and some clutch free throws to rally and claim a 60-54 conference win.
There was not much separation between the two teams in the first half, with Peebles up 11-10 after one quarter, and still holding a slim 24-21 lead at the half, but the Rockets began the third period on a 7-0 run to take the lead and increased that margin to 38-28 at one point, until the offensive work of Hawes, Tanner Arey, and Bostin Robinson fueled an 11-2 Peebles run that drew the Indians within 40-39 at the end of the third quarter.
The Indians reclaimed the lead in the final eight minutes and held on, getting six points each in the stanza from Hawes and Robinson and then some clutch free throws down the stretch from Weston and Conner Browning to hold off the Rockets and claim the 60-54 victory.
With the “W”, the Indians improved to 7-2 on the season, 5-2 in the SHAC, and they knocked off the Rockets with a scoring attack that saw three players hit double figures, led by Robinson’s 17, with Arey adding 15, and Hawes 14. Weston Browning added 8 points for the victors. It was a triple header sweep for the Indians, who won the freshman game 50-24 and the JV game 44-29. The Peebles freshman team stands at 5-1 while the JV squad is 7-1 for the season.
The Indians added win number eight to the left side of their ledger on Saturday, Jan.6, again coming behind from a big deficit to defeat a very good New Boston squad by a final score of 72-67.
Coach Arey and his troops are off now until Saturday, Jan. 13 when they will host the Western Indians in non-conference play, then jump right back into SHAC battles on Tuesday, Jan. 16 in a rematch with Fayetteville, this time on the Rockets’ home court.

Fayetteville
10 11 19 14 –54
Peebles
11 13 15 21 –60

Fayetteville (54): Conner 2 0-0 5, Doane 5 3-3 14, Wiederhold 9 0-0 18, Murphy 3 0-0 7, McCulley 1 1-2 3, Smyth 2 3-4 7, Team 22 7-9 54.
Peebles (60): C. Browning 1 1-2 3, Shiveley 1 0-0 3, Arey 5 4-5 15, Robinson 7 2-2 17, Hawes 7 0-2 14, W. Browning 2 4-4 8, Team 23 11-15 60.
Three-Point Goals:
Fayetteville (3): Conner 1, Doane 1, Murphy 1
Peebles (3): Shiveley 1, Arey 1, Robinson 1