LITTLE ROCK — Senior guard Mitchell Luther made four threepointers and finished with 15 points as Catholic ended a seven-game losing skid by holding off visiting Fort Smith Southside, 45-40, in a 7A/6A-Central game Friday night.
Catholic (2-8) never trailed and led by as many as 15 points early in the third quarter, but the Rockets couldn’t breath easy until junior post player Scott Diaz came up with a loose ball under the Southside goal with 4.5 seconds to play.
“All the kids played hard and aggressive tonight, and that’s what we’ve been trying to get them to do,” Catholic Coach Tim Ezzi said. “We cut down on the turnovers, took care of the ball and Mitchell hit some big threes.”
Southside (5-12, 0-3) had a chance to tie in the final 20 seconds, but a missed threepointer was rebounded by the Rockets. Luther made 1 of 2 free throws with 13.3 seconds left to give Catholic a 44-40 advantage.
Catholic sophomore D.J. Brown scored nine of his 12 points in the fourth quarter and Carter Morse had a team-high six assists. Southside’s John Hunton led the Rebels with 12 points and five rebounds, and Reece Strickland added nine points.
Sports, Pages 22 on 01/12/2013