EL DORADO — The El Dorado Wildcats rained 3-pointers down on the Bryant Hornets in the first half of Tuesday night’s 7A/6A-South Conference game. They shot 18 by halftime and made enough of them — 7 — to build a 37-23 lead.
To open the second half, however, the Hornets gradually whittled on that margin. They cut it to 5 before the third quarter was over. Down 7to begin the fourth, sparked by freshman Romen Martin, they cut it to 3. And when senior Cedarrian Crosby combined with freshman Desmond Duckworth to force a turnover, it looked like the run would continue.
But on the way to the basket, Crosby slipped, went down with a sprained ankle, and lost the ball out of bounds. He had to come out of the ballgame so the Hornets were without two regular starters. Leading scorer C.J. Rainey didn’t make the trip because of injury.
El Dorado got a basket from Kawon Love inside and, after Bryant’s Wesley Peters hit a free throw, Jalen Cunningham landed a driving jumper to make it 54-48. Hornets’ senior Greyson Giles posted up for an answering basket, cutting the margin to 4 but they would get no closer.
Keenan Hicks followed his own miss for a basket and, after a turnover, Czar Perry connected on a 12-footer. Moments later, Cunningham drained his fifth 3 of the game and the lead was 61-50 with 3:30 left.
The Wildcats eventually claimed a 71-61 win on Senior Night, led by Cunningham’s 25 points as he became the all-time leading scorer at El Dorado. Perry added 20 and 6-10 sophomore Matthew Horton had 10 including a pair of dunks in the late stages of the game.
The loss was Bryant’s sixth in the last seven games after claiming six wins in a row in the first half of the conference slate. At 7-7 in the league and 11-14 overall, the Hornets will advance to the Class 7A State Tournament as the fourth seed from the West, a slot that Tuesday’s setback did not effect. They’ll take on the fifth-seeded team from the Central at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 5, at Conway’s Buzz Bolding Arena.
Sophomore Kevin Hunt led Bryant with 19 points at El Dorado. Martin finished with 14, Crosby 10 and Giles 9. The Hornets finished 17 of 52 from the field including 1 of 18 from 3-point range but they got to the line plenty, converting 26 of 33 while El Dorado went 6 of 10. The Wildcats launched a whopping 71 shots in the game. They hit 28 of them including a 9-for-28 performance on 3’s.
Cunningham hit three of his triples in the first quarter. The first two helped establish a 10-3 advantage. Hunt drove for a basket then Martin made a steal that he punctuated with a dunk. Crosby added a free throw after being fouled on a drive up the baseline and the margin was 10-8.
A follow shot by Cunningham was answered by Hunt’s drive and, moments later, two free throws by the sophomore had it tied 12-12.
But Cunningham drained his third trey and, after Bryant missed from long range, Perry popped the first of his four 3’s in the game to make it 18-12 going into the second quarter.
Bryant battled back to within 22-19 midway through the second quarter but Perry drilled three more triples as the lead expanded to 35-21. Over the last four and a half minutes of the quarter, the Hornets managed just four free throws, two each from Hunt and Duckworth.
El Dorado’s Kobie Willis beat the buzzer with a layup that produced the 37-23 halftime lead.
Bryant’s initial pushback started with two free throws by Peters, who finished with 5 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Martin followed up with a 3 and Crosby drove for a basket to make it 37-30.
Cunningham fired in a 3 but drives by Hunt and Crosby had the Hornets within 40-34. Peters made a steal to five the Hornets a chance to get closer. It was the first of five chances they had to cut that margin. One of those opportunities came thanks to Martin absorbing a charge on a drive by Perry.
Two free throws by Cunningham and a reverse layup by Perry extended the margin to 46-34 but Hunt found the range inside and Crosby took a feed from Perry and came through with a three-point play to get it back to 7. A stickback by Peters with 1:14 left in the third quarter made it a 5-point game.
Perry and Martin traded hoops then Cunningham hit a follow to make it 50-43 going into the fourth quarter.
Martin grabbed an offensive rebound and was fouled at the start of the fourth quarter. He followed up with a steal and a layup to make it 50-47. The theft by Crosby and Duckworth followed.
The win was the second in two nights for the Wildcats who came into the final week of the regular season with just one conference victory. El Dorado finishes the regular season on Friday with a make-up game against Sheridan.
The Hornets’ regular season concluded with Tuesday’s loss.
