Conway catches Cabot

CONWAY 44, CABOT 42

CABOT — Junior forward Terry Clardy took advantage of a Conway steal to drive for the winning basket with 16.1 seconds left, giving the Wampus Cats a 44-42 victory over Cabot on Friday at Panther Arena.

The Panthers (15-9, 3-6 7A-Central) had control of the game in the first half, but Clardy’s basket allowed the Wampus Cats (15-8, 6-3) to take advantage of a 17-10 spread in the fourth quarter.

After falling behind at the half, Conway Coach Brian “Salty” Longing said some changes were needed.

“It was a pretty ugly game, but we figured out a way down the stretch to make a play or two and come away with the victory,” Longing said. “We did a better job of attacking in the second half.”

Conway’s Christian Williams nailed a three-pointer, cutting the margin to 35-31 in the fourth quarter. Noah Allgood added a free throw for Cabot, but Conway’s Caleb London got a field goal when he put a rebound back in to make it a 36-33 Cabot lead.

A free throw and a field goal from Landon Vaught made it 39-34 with four minutes remaining. Seth Vance made three free thows to increase the Cabot edge to 4236 with 2:08 left.

From that point it was all Conway. The Wampus Cats tied it at 42-42 with 49.3 seconds left.

Clardy took the ball down the floor for a short two-pointer with 16.1 left. Cabot’s Jalen Brown put up a three-pointer just before the buzzer that banged off the backboard and the rim. Conway got the rebound and the victory.

Kylen Milton had a gamehigh 16 points for Conway while Allgood led Cabot with 11 despite fouling out with 3:38 remaining.