VAN BUREN -- Cabot found itself down early but bounced back quickly Saturday night with the help from guard Jalen Brown at Clair Bates Arena.
Brown led the way scoring a game-high 23 to push Cabot past Fort Smith Southside in a 61-43 victory in the championship game at the Citizens Bank Classic.
Cabot 61, Fort Smith Southside 43
Cabot^8^19^15^19^—^61
Southside^12^5^12^14^—^43
Cabot (4-1): Brown 23, Hudson 10, May 8, Vance 6, Weir 5, Rogers 3, Shurley 2, Vaught 2, Allgood 2.
Southside (4-2): Brewer 15, Hamilton 6, Moore 4, Gatewood 4, Latorre 3, Solomon 2, Marshall 2, Thomas 2, Skyes 2, Skelton 2, Smith 1.
At a glance
Citizens Bank Classic
at Clair Bates Arena, Van Buren
Thursday’s games
Mountain Home 53, Van Buren (JV) 39
Fort Smith Southside 81, Mena 41
Cabot 64, Subiaco Academy 47
Van Buren 63, Fort Smith Patriots 31
Friday’s games
Subiaco 58, Van Buren (JV) 33
Cabot 54, Mountain Home 21
Mena 57, Fort Smith Patriots 21
Fort Smith Southside 58, Van Buren 51
Saturday’s games
Mena 70, Subiaco 65 (OT)
Van Buren 60, Mountain Home 45
Cabot 61, Fort Smith Southside 43
"He is a gym rat," Cabot coach Jerry Bridges said of Brown. "He is my assistant coach's son. People don't know how much time he puts in on his own. There is a reason he is a good shooter. He plays great defense as well."
Southside (4-2) was able to take a 12-8 lead after the first quarter with a strong performance from Ollis Brewer. He had a team-high eight points in the quarter.
Cabot (4-1) was then able to bounce back and hold Southside to one of nine shooting in the second quarter. That allowed the Panthers to take a 27-17 lead heading into halftime.
Southside was held scoreless in the second quarter until Taye Gatewood made one of two free-throw attempts with 2:54 left before the break.
"We are going to guard you hard and try to make your shots tough," Bridges said. "We did a good job of that. But I think this game could've gone either way. They have some good players."
Cabot used a 10-0 run in the second quarter to open up an 18-12 lead with the help of back-to-back 3-point baskets from Jacob Hudson and Jared Vance.
"I was proud of my kids keeping their composure better than their coach," said Bridges, who picked up a technical foul in the first quarter. "I felt like in the second quarter we settled down and did what we do best. That includes me."
The Panthers pushed out its lead to 42-29 heading into the final quarter with a quick 6-0 run aided by a Maverick technical foul. Cabot used a basket from Christian Weir and four free-throw attempts made by Mario May and Brown.
"You look at the score, and you get beat by 18," Southside coach Charlie Cooper said. "It looks like a blowout. But that's just about four points a quarter. It will take a little bit here and there to improve. This is a learning experience."
Brown was able to keep the game well out of reach in the fourth quarter, as he finished with a team-high nine points to close out the game strong.
Southside, which had 11 different player score points, was led by a team-high 15 points from Brewer.
"I'm proud of these guys," Southside coach Charlie Cooper said. "This is the first finals of a tournament for us for about three years. That's something to build on. We missed a lot of shots early."
Hudson added 10 points, while May scored eight to help keep the Cabot offense balanced.
Van Buren 60, Mountain Home 45
Mountain Home (2-4) was able to take a 12-10 lead after the first quarter with Van Buren (3-2) having six turnovers early.
But the Pointers then scored the initial 15 points of the second quarter to bounce back, building a 25-12 lead. Van Buren didn't look back after that in winning the third-place game.
Jordan West led the way for Van Buren by scoring a game-high 20 points. Presley Kindrix and Brayden Gilmore each had 11 for the Pointers.
Mountain Home's Colton Peters scored a team-high 14 points. David Wehmeyer added 10 points for the Bombers.
Mena 70, Subiaco Academy 65 (OT)
Senior forward Blake Seals scored five of the Mena's seven overtime points to pull away in the extra period in the fifth-place game.
Mena (5-2) found itself down 45-35 to Subiaco Academy but was able to bounce back to take a 59-58 lead with 2:50 left in the game.
Mena was led by Connor Harvey, who finished with a game-high 28 points, while Seals added 25. Devon Forest paced Subiaco Academy (5-3) with 19 points, followed by James Taylor with 15.
Sports on 12/03/2017