Wildcats ready for tough week
El Dorado's varsity basketball boys had an open date on Friday. It might've come at a good time for the Wildcats, who face a challenging week with conference road games at Benton and Pine Bluff looming.
El Dorado fell to 2-6 overall after 5A South opening 77-62 loss to White Hall last Tuesday. The Wildcats played well defensively but turnovers down the stretch proved fatal.
“I felt this was our best defensive game we've had in the half court,” said El Dorado coach Jimmy Porter. “I really believe this team can build off of this. We just have to limit our turnovers and take better care of the basketball. Once we can do that collectively as a unit, I think we're going to be really tough to beat. It's still early season. We've still got the rest of December before we hit the meat of conference.”
Porter admitted the Wildcats are licking their wounds. El Dorado played three games in three days at the Chickasaw Classic in Blytheville before a physical match-up against the Bulldogs on Tuesday.
The coach said several players are nicked up. The most serious could be point guard Micah Singleton, who suffered a concussion on Tuesday and will be listed as questionable this week.
There won't be any sympathy shown at Benton, which features Terrion Burgess, a transfer from Marion.
“Benton's a really good basketball team,” said Porter. “They shoot the three ball really well. They run a really extended type of zone that's similar to White Hall. We're going to have to play really well to beat them.”
The conference season really gets wound up in January. But, these early-season games count and the Wildcats don't want to dig a hole they'll be trying to climb out of all season.
“We are playing three of the top four teams in the conference in the preseason poll. White Hall, Benton, Pine Bluff and Lake Hamilton are considered the top four,” said Porter. “The goal is to try to steal a game. If we can steal a game on the road next week, that would be a major benefit for us.”
Despite the loss to White Hall, Porter was encouraged with the effort. He hopes it's a positive sign for the rest of the league schedule.
“Our boys played hard. I'm really proud of the effort on the defensive end. Now it's just about taking care of the basketball on the offensive end. We're going to continue to work and continue to improve.”