Dominant first quarter leads to 9th grade Cubs win over Jr. Cobras
On the road this week, the Malvern 9th grade Cubs earned a dominate win over the Fountain Lake Jr. Cobras.
A strong offensive front and a pressure defense in the first quarter led to the Cubs taking an early lead over the Cobras. The Cubs kept the momentum through the next three quarters and defeated the Cobras 39-19.
The Cubs will be on the road once again for their next contest against Arkadelphia Monday. Game time is set for 5 p.m. with the 7th grade Cubs taking the court first.
Against the Cobras, the Cubs took off in the first quarter with a 9-0 run. Malvern’s Tre Richardson came up big with six of the Cubs’ nine points during the run with Kealen Juniel adding two points and Jalen Dupree making a free throw. It was at the 1:29 mark of the first quarter that the Cobras got on the board with a made free throw. For the last minute and a half it was all Cubs who scored again at the 1:03 mark with Juniel and at the buzzer with Jesse Casey. The Cubs led 13-1 over the Cobras after the first quarter.
The Cubs’ scoring slowed in the second quarter, but their defense maintained and held the Cobras to just three points. The Cobras made one free throw at the start of the quarter and made their first field goal at the two minute mark. The Cubs added another nine points to their total in the second quarter with Juniel
scoring four points, Casey scoring two, Dyelon Caradine scoring two, and Richardson chipping in with one point on a free throw. At the end of the first half, the Cubs led the Cobras 22-4.
The Cobras started to gain some momentum in the third quarter and added six points to their total. The Cubs still managed to outscore the Cobras though by adding another seven points in the third. Scoring for the Cubs in the third quarter was Vincent Winters, Ethan Martin, Juniel and Caradine. The Cubs led 29-10 going into the final quarter of play.
To kickoff the fourth quarter, the Cobras went on a mini 5-2 run down to the
5:03 mark. The Cubs then went on their own run of eight points with Winters, Richardson, Martin, and Connor Lewis all providing scoring. The Cobras were able to stop the run with a basket with just 45 seconds remaining and made the final shot to end the game with a 20 point, 39-19 defeat.
The leading scorer of the game was Juniel with 10 points. He was followed by Richardson with nine points and Winters with six points. Also scoring for the Cubs was Casey and Martin with four points apiece, Caradine with three points, Lewis with two points, and Dupree with one point.