Southside pulls away, drops Catholic

FS SOUTHSIDE 58, LR CATHOLIC 38

Fort Smith Southside took advantage of its speed and defense in the fourth quarter, outscoring Little Rock Catholic 18-8 and pulling way to a 58-38 victory Friday night in Little Rock.

The Mavericks (14-13, 5-7 7A-Central) hit several wideopen shots and made fastbreak points, while the Rockets (7-17, 1-11) had foul trouble in the final three minutes to suffer their 11th consecutive loss.

“That’s the way we’ve got to play,” Southside Coach Charles Cooper said. “We’re small, we’re quick and we’ve got to play up and down, get some turnovers and we finally got a few after a slow start.”

Catholic’s night began to go downhill at the 6:06 mark when Phillips Allison, a 6-3 senior forward, went down awkwardly after catching a pass, suffering an apparent knee injury. Catholic Coach Todd Ezzi said he thinks Allison is going to be out for the year. Allison was on crutches with his right knee iced after the game.

“It’s unfortunate something like that happens,” Cooper said. “He’s a senior, a great post guy. You hate to see anyone in his senior year, just two games to go, hurt his knee like that. I hope he has a good recovery.”

Moore had a game-high 17 points for Southside, while Taye Gatewood had 11 and Hamilton 10. Daniel led the Rockets with 14.