Panthers hold on, drop Rockets

6A-CENTRAL BOYS

CABOT 49, LITTLE ROCK CATHOLIC 38

Beset by fouls in the first and third quarters, Cabot's boys fought back from a 35-35 tie in the fourth quarter, using seven consecutive points from Seth Vance to pull away for a 49-38 road victory over Little Rock Catholic on Friday night.

The Panthers (11-3, 1-0 6A-Central) scored the first 10 points of the game and never allowed the Rockets (6-7, 0-1), who didn't score until the 1:06 mark in the first quarter, to take a lead in the game.

"I knew it was going to be a tight game," Cabot Coach Chris Meseke said. "It always is when you come here because these guys play extremely hard and the coaches do a good job of preparing them.

"The first and the third quarters, we were in foul trouble most of those quarters and we got out of a rotation and that affects the way you are subbing.

"We kept responding and I'm so proud of our guys tonight. We have six seniors and this is what a senior team is supposed to do when you get punched in the mouth: You respond right away. And for the most part we did that tonight."

Trailing 10-4 after the first quarter, Catholic used an a 8-2 run to tie the game at 12-12. Cabot responded by scoring 10 points in the final 4:03 of the second quarter to take a 22-15 lead at the half.

Catholic outscored Cabot 17-11 in the third quarter and clawed to within 33-32 heading into the final quarter.

The Rockets finally tied the game at 35-35 with 5:23 left in the game, but Vance and his teammates put the game away, outscoring the Rockets 12-3 over the final 5:06.

"Our goal is to secure just enough wins to get a state tournament berth," Meseke said.

The Panthers play their next two games at home against Fort Smith Southside and Conway.

"Hopefully we can take care of the one on Tuesday before we get to the one on Friday," Meseke said.

Vance led the Panthers with 12 points and Jacob Hudson added 11. Brian Flanagan had a game-high 15 to lead the Rockets.

Sports on 01/11/2020

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