6A-CENTRAL BOY

Cabot enters groove at right time of year

CABOT -- It may have been senior night at Cabot on Friday, but it was a trio of juniors who stole the show against 6A-Central Conference foe North Little Rock.

Jacob Hudson, Jackson Muse and Seth Vance combined for 47 points and 22 rebounds to carry the Panthers to a 65-54 victory over the Charging Wildcats.

"It was a big win for us, especially to see us move forward," Cabot Coach Chris Meseke said. "I wish [North Little Rock] would've been at full strength because we played them really close at their place and had a chance to win. I don't know how that affected our mentality because we got tight for about two-and-a-half quarters.

"But then we relaxed a little bit, got a couple of easy buckets, kind of got some energy and loosened up a little bit. And then we were able to put it away in the fourth quarter."

Hudson finished with 17 points and 14 rebounds, Muse had 16 points and 5 rebounds, and Vance ended with 14 points and 3 rebounds for Cabot (19-8, 7-7), which shot 56 percent (23 of 41) from the floor to avenge its close loss to North Little Rock four weeks ago. The Panthers, who've gone 5-2 over their past seven league games, will head into next week's Class 6A state tournament as a No. 5 seed and take on the 6A-West's No. 4 seed, Springdale Har-Ber, on Wednesday.

Senior forward Shawn Fudge had 21 points and 7 rebounds for North Little Rock (21-8, 9-5), which was playing without starting forwards Spencer Simes and Collin Moore. The Charging Wildcats had a tough time making shots Friday and are in the midst of a two-game losing streak, but they already had the No. 3 seed locked up beforehand and will face West No. 6 seed Springdale on Wednesday.

North Little Rock hit just 30 percent (15 of 50) of its shots and was outrebounded 33-23.

The Panthers never trailed in the first half and led by as much as 11 points in the opening quarter. The Charging Wildcats sped the game up and tied it at 25-25 on junior forward Lamonte Boyd's three-point play with 1:49 left before halftime. The Panthers regained the lead after a three-pointer from Cabot junior forward Weston Vaught on the next trip, but another Boyd basket pulled North Little Rock within 28-27 at the break.

The teams continued to trade buckets throughout the third quarter, and Cabot held a 42-40 advantage early in the fourth before a short floater by Hudson jump-started a 14-2 run.

"We loosened up," Meseke said. "We got a couple of sets there in the fourth and got back to us being us. They allowed me to help them in that fourth, they executed perfectly, and we were able to get a little separation."

Sports on 02/23/2019

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