Cabot can’t keep up with Jonesboro

CABOT - Cabot’s chances were washed away by waves of points from the Jonesboro Hurricane on Tuesday night at Panther Arena.

Senior point guard Kahron Ross scored 17 points to lead Jonesboro to a 59-36 victory in a 7A/6A-East game.

Cabot kept it close for a while. It was within 9-8 with a minute gone in the second quarter but could do little more than watch as Jonesboro’s first run began.

A three-pointer by senior guard Brad Sherrill gave Jonesboro (24-4, 12-1) a 14-8 lead and forced a timeout from the Cabot bench.

“When we get behind a team like that, it’s hard,” Cabot Coach Jerry Bridges said. “We can’t press people. You can’t trap what you can’t catch.”

Cabot’s break did little to slow Jonesboro, which scored 25 second-quarter points. The Hurricane scored on six consecutive possessions, including five points from senior guard Kenyatae Woods and a three-pointer by junior Jarma Perkins. Junior forward Jerome McIntosh’s layup gave Jonesboro a 28-13 lead with 2:30 left in the second.

Another three-pointer by Perkins and two free throws by junior guard Marquise Pointer in the final minute gave Jonesboro a 33-14 lead going into halftime.

Perkins and Woods scored 11 points each for Jonesboro, and Pointer had 10.

Sophomore forward Hunter Southerland led Cabot (15-7,6-7) with eight points.

“Their guard play is exceptional,” Bridges said. “Coach [Wes] Swift does a great job. He won’t let them drop their guard. Once we got behind six or eight, it’s just hard for us to catch up to them. Then we had so many bad turnovers in the second half and it just snowballed on us.”

Seven of Cabot’s first 10 possessions in the third quarter ended in turnovers, including four steals that immediately produced points for Jonesboro. On consecutive possessions, steals led to a three-pointer by Pointer and a layup by Ross that gave Jonesboro a 46-17 lead at 3:36.

“Kahron gets better every year,” Swift said of Ross, who is in his fourth season on the varsity roster.

Swift said Ross struggled with a flawed shooting stroke as a freshman and then with an improved but unfamiliar technique as a sophomore.

“His junior year he started getting a little bit more confident, but he still didn’t feel like he could make it from anywhere on the floor,” Swift said. “Now we’re to that point.”