Charging Wildcats put in work early
6A-CENTRAL BOYS
NORTH LITTLE ROCK 68, CABOT 55
North Little Rock played uneven at times Friday night but was smooth when it needed to be against Cabot.
The top-ranked Charging Wildcats built a huge second-half lead before scuffling their way to a 68-55 victory at Panthers Arena.
Freshman guard Bryson Warren scored a team-high 16 points for North Little Rock (16-3, 7-0 6A-Central), which put together a nearly flawless first quarter to take the steam out of Cabot early. Senior guard Craig Collier added 12 points and senior forward Spencer Simes had 10 points. Sophomore center Kelel Ware ended with 10 points, 13 rebounds and 4 blocked shots as the
Charging Wildcats won for the eighth time in as many games.
Senior forward Jacob Hudson had 20 points and 13 rebounds and Weston Vaught added 17 points for Cabot (13-7, 3-4), which held a 7-6 lead at the 5:21 mark of the opening quarter until North Little Rock got hot.
The Charging Wildcats hit six of their seven shots during the rest of the period and clamped down on defense during a 10-0 run that saw a 14-12 lead balloon to 12 after Collier’s three-point play.
“I thought tonight, defensively, is the most engaged and most connected we have been,” North Little Rock Coach Johnny Rice said. “Even on the offensive end, when we had our big lineup in, we used that to our advantage. So for the most part, we played well.
“We had a great start, like we did Tuesday night, but it didn’t last very long.”
North Little Rock, which hit just 3 of 10 shots in the second quarter, carried a 36-20 lead into halftime after the Panthers made just one field goal in the quarter. But Cabot began to take advantage when the Charging Wildcats began settling for quick shots.
Down 40-22 with 6:34 left in the third, Vaught and Hudson combined for eight points during a 10-2 burst that cut into the Panthers’ deficit. Hudson’s reverse layup trimmed North Little Rock’s lead to 10, but a layin from senior forward Laityn Sheppard spurred an 11-3 surge that pushed the Charging Wildcats’ lead to 53-35.
“We’ve got tough kids, and they fight,” Cabot interim coach Logan Bailey said.
“We need to execute a little better, but they fought it out. We wanted to frustrate them and make things as tough as possible, but when [North Little Rock] gets hot like that, it kind of hurts your morale a little bit as an opposing team.”
Cabot crept within 5748 with 3:28 to go on a three-pointer from senior guard Seth Vance to cap a 9-2 run, but Simes scored inside on the next trip to re-establish control for North Little Rock.
“I tell them all the time about how good we look when we’re playing together and making the right play,” Rice said. “My biggest nightmare is that we’ll stop doing that at the worst time when it’s a do or die type of deal. But our defense stayed consistent all the way through, and I’m pretty pleased about that.”