Photos by Kevin Nagle
CABOT — Playing on the road is never easy in any league and it hold true even for freshman basketball in the Central Arkansas Junior High Conference.
On Monday, the Bryant Hornets freshmen entered their game at Cabot North tied for second in the league with a 3-1 record. They were coming off a thrilling victory over Little Rock Catholic at home on Thursday. Cabot North’s Panthers, on the other hand, had yet to win a conference game. At 0-3 in the league, they were languishing in last place.
At home, however, the Panthers had played unbeaten league-leader North Little Rock and lost by just 5 on Thursday and a week before had lost by just a point to Little Rock Catholic, now tied with the Hornets for third.
On Monday, the Panthers picked up their first conference win and knocked the Hornets into third with a 44-36 win.
“We came out a little flat and could not get going offensively,” said Hornets coach Tyler Posey. We missed several chances early on to put in some baskets around the rim.”
Cory Nichols wound up leading the Hornets with 11 points. Darren Wallace had 7.
“We were just a step behind on defense seemingly all night and Cabot did a great job of exploiting this.”
The Hornets trailed 8-3 at the end of the first quarter. Cabot North held a 24-20 edge at halftime. In its wins, Bryant has been very disruptive and effective in the second half but, at Cabot North, they just couldn’t make up the ground. The Panthers led 33-29 going into the fourth.
Bryant goes from the bottom to the top this Thursday. They play North Little Rock but they’ll be at home.
