Cobras hold off late Lion push

FOUNTAIN LAKE — Fountain Lake continued its strong start to the season with a 49-40 win over Jessieville Monday night at Sammy Lambert Court at Irvin J. Bass Gymnasium.

“I thought we played well,” said Cobras head coach Jake Dettmering after the game. “I thought we played as a team. I thought their attention to detail on the scouting report was good. The main thing: the first half, we’ve got to adjust with the officiating. You know, we got some little tic-tac fouls and had a couple of starters in foul trouble and then the other kids stepped up and did a nice job managing. But I thought overall, I was pretty pleased defensively and in sharing the ball. And this group’s done a good job all season playing together.”

Leading 24-12 at the break, the Cobras (11-1, 2-0 4A-7) continued to roll early in the second half before Jessieville junior Carson Hair put up a shot in the paint. Sophomore Matthew Huff had a putback with 3:35 to go to pull the Lions within 28-16.

Fountain Lake sophomore Cole Echols answered with a 3-pointer before sophomore point guard Colby Lambert found Asa Westerman inside and drove one in at the buzzer for a 35-19 lead.

Jessieville refused to lay down, switching to a full-court press defensively. Sophomore Noah Futch banged in a 3-pointer from the corner to cut the deficit to 10 with just 1:43 off the clock. Landin Kizer and Lambert both added buckets to push the spread back out to 14 for the Cobras.

With the teams trading baskets, Futch again pulled up for a

long 3-pointer to pull within 9 with 5:15 left, but Lambert drove to the hoop for the double-digit lead. Senior guard Landen Daley and Futch continued to battle for the visiting team, but Fountain Lake began to play keep-away with Moore hitting a pair of free throws to set the final.

Dettmering said he was pleased with his team’s ability to hold on late in the game.

“I thought they did a pretty nice job,” he said. “You know, whenever you’ve got a little bit of a lead and stuff, you kind of limit your shot selection, and I think we took a couple of quick shots I didn’t like in that stretch. But other than that, I thought they handled it good. They stayed spaced, attacked, dribbled out and made good decisions. You know, so they just need to focus on getting more layups and free throws and not taking quick outside shots. But otherwise I was pleased.”

Jessieville head coach Jared White said his team simply got outplayed.

“They beat us to loose balls; we didn’t execute very well offensively,” he said. “I don’t think we made a shot in the first half outside of, you know, 10 feet. The slow start was definitely not something we really could afford tonight.”

The Cobras opened the match with high energy as senior Will Drakes scored on a drive off the opening tip. Daley got the Lions on the board with three free throws in the opening minutes as Lambert came alive for the Cobras. After Lambert found senior Jon Farley in the corner for a shot at the buzzer, the Cobras led 10-4 heading into the second frame.

Fountain Lake opened the quarter on an 8-0 run before Jessieville senior Jarrett Davis hit a pull-up jumper off a fast break, but the Cobras hit from the line down the stretch to keep the momentum going.

Lambert led the Cobras with 12 points, three assists and two steals. Moore had 9 points with three rebounds while Farley, Westerman and Echols each put up 6 points with Farley adding seven rebounds and Westerman adding five rebounds and two steals. Kizer finished with 5 points and two rebounds.

Jessieville was led by Futch with 16 points, two assists and three rebounds. Jarrett Davis had 11 points and two rebounds, Hair had 5 points, six rebounds, one block and a steal, and Daley had

5 points and three rebounds. Huff added 3 points with four rebounds.

• Fountain Lake also won the junior varsity match, 18-16, after taking a 12- 6 lead into the second half.

Cole Echols led the JV Cobras with 8 points and two rebounds. Kobe Combs added 7 points and one rebound.

Zack Speers led Jessieville with 6 points, two rebounds and an assist followed by Alex Cummings with 5 points, Dameon Harbin with 3 points and Leonard Huff with 2 points.

The Lions will play today at Malvern with games starting at 4 p.m. while the Cobras next play on Jan. 5 at Malvern.