Short-handed Wildcats fall to Cabot 64-58
Missing seven players due to COVID, El Dorado’s boys’ basketball team lost a non-conference contest against Cabot, 64-58, Tuesday at Wildcat Arena.
The Wildcats fell to 1-3 while the Panthers improved to 2-5 on the season.
El Dorado used an 11-0 run late in the third to take a 45-44 lead. But Cabot answered with eight unanswered points to start the fourth and never trailed again.
“Tough loss tonight versus Cabot. We had multiple opportunities to take control of the game and just failed to execute,” said El Dorado coach Jimmy Porter. “We had three breakaway layups that we should have converted on. Way too many communication issues and defensive breakdowns in transition.”
Cabot’s halfcourt execution in the fourth quarter produced back-to-back layups by Isaiah Larson, who gave the Panthers a 52-45 advantage with 5:37 left in the fourth quarter.
The lead was 58-51 when the Wildcats went to fullcourt pressure with less than two minutes remaining. James Hartsfield scored for El Dorado, but the Panthers handled the Wildcats’ pressure and Jarrett Coleman scored in the paint with 1:33 remaining.
The Wildcats were forced to foul, and Cabot’s Braden Roberts hit four consecutive free throws down the stretch.
Isaiah Ramey led El Dorado with 17 points with Hartsfield adding 14 and Jarmel Love 10. Sophomore Laronte McHenry contributed nine points.
Evan Tonnerson led Cabot with 15 points with Van Ezell adding 12 and Garrett Hill 10.
Cabot jumped out to an 11-8 lead midway in the first and led 23-19 after one quarter. The Panthers maintained the advantage throughout the second and led 34-30 at the intermission.
Cabot built a 44-34 cushion midway in the third before El Dorado retaliated. After McHenry scored in the lane, Ramey hit back-toback driving layups and then fed Hartsfield for a corner 3-pointer. McHenry’s two free throws with 44.3 seconds left in the third gave the Wildcats a 45-44 advantage. It was their only lead of the second half and lasted less than 20 seconds as Hill scored for Cabot with 25 ticks remaining in the quarter.