LITTLE ROCK — Senior forward T.J. Francis came off the bench and scored a game-high 16 points as top-ranked North Little Rock overwhelmed Cabot, 67-32 in a 7A/6A-East game on Friday night in the Charging Wildcats arena.
North Little Rock (19-1, 8-0) scored 20 consecutive points in the first half, turning a 12-6 lead into a 32-6 advantage, sending the Charging Wildcats on their way to their 18th consecutive victory.
“I really thought our intensity was good tonight,” North Little Rock Coach Johnny Rice said. “When we played [Cabot] in our first game in January, they were up on us a point at the half. And when you watch that game, you can see we didn’t play with any urgency on defense or on offense. We were just passing the ball around. We weren’t attacking and we had no ball pressure whatsoever.”
The first of February was more to the North Little Rock coach’s liking. The Charging Wildcats made seven steals in the first quarter and led 26-6 after one period.
Sophomore Kevaughn Allen, a 6-3 guard, led the first quarter charge. Allen scored 10 of his 14 points in the opening eight minutes. He also threw down two one-handed dunks and made three steals.
“Tonight we moved the ball, stepped in gaps and attacked with the dribble,” Rice said. “The kids were very tough on the ball and did a good job of rotating. I was very pleased with that.”
North Little Rock led by as many as 30 points (42-12) in the first half. Their 40-point margin (63-23) at the end of the third quarter was the Charging Wildcats’ largest lead.
Cabot (7-12, 2-6), which has lost five of its past six games, made 4 of 20 shots from the floor in the first half while the Charging Wildcats hit 13 of 25. North Little Rock was 22 of 41 for the game; Cabot was 9 of 35. North Little Rock out rebounded Cabot 27-24.
Junior forward Michael Smith led Cabot with 11 points. Senior guard Bryan Shrum added eight points.
Thomas Alexander added 12 points for North Little Rock.
Sports, Pages 24 on 02/02/2013