CABOT -- A strong defensive effort allowed Cabot to give Chris Meseke his first conference victory as the Panthers' coach.
Cabot defeated Little Rock Catholic 53-28 on Friday night at Panther Arena in the teams' 6A-Central Conference opener.
The Panthers (13-1, 1-0) limited the Rockets (9-5, 0-1) to three field goals in the first half en route to a 24-9 halftime lead.
"You hold a high school team at this level to 28 points, you're doing some good work," said Meseke, who took over for Jerry Bridges after stints at Greenwood, Magnolia, Fountain Lake and Malvern. "I credit our kids and their ability to lock in and focus and do what's at hand."
Junior guard Kairo Rudolph scored 14 points off the bench to lead Cabot.
"Kairo has been our super sub," Meseke said. "He's really accepted his role of coming off the bench. He's really flourished in that role. We can put him in for a post guy. We can put him in at guard. He's plugged those holes for us."
Junior forward Jacob Hudson had 12 points, and classmate Seth Vance added 10 for the Panthers.
Junior guard Charles Daniel led the Rockets with eight points.
Cabot has won 13 of its first 14 games, but Meseke is looking forward to the Panthers' next conference game Tuesday at Fort Smith Southside in what will be his team's second true road game of the season.
"It will be our first conference game on the road," Meseke said. "It's a long bus trip. How are our guys going to respond? I don't know how they're going to respond, but we'll find out on Tuesday."
Sports on 01/05/2019