By Malcolm Butler
In a competitive back and forth affair on the hardwood Friday night in Monroe, a lack of composure ultimately cost Cedar Creek its chance for victory in a 72-53 loss to Ouachita Christian in District 2-1A action.
With OCS hanging on to a slim 53-49 lead with 6:30 to play in the fourth quarter, Cougars leading scorer Jake Doan picked up his second technical foul of the game for a verbal altercation. Doan was disqualified from the game for the two technical fouls, and the Eagles used a game-ending 19-4 run the rest of the way to pick up the win.
“Down the stretch we couldn’t make buckets,” said head coach Lance Waldron. “We just couldn’t make buckets.”
With one of its top two offensive threats sitting on the bench down the stretch, the Eagles locked down defensively on Connor Johnson and the rest of the Cougars players. Cedar Creek managed just two free throws by Jack Bell and a late bucket by Blake Robinson over the final six minutes of action.
Waldron said his message to his sophomore guard was short and to the point.
“I told him he has to keep his mouth shut,” said Waldron. “These days it’s popular for everybody to talk trash on the court. Some people think they can’t play unless they talk trash. Well we aren’t supposed to play like that. That’s not Cedar Creek basketball, and we don’t want any part of that. He let his team down by running his mouth out there on the floor. He’s a sophomore. I guess he is young. It’s a lesson you got to learn.”
Doan and Johnson got the Cougars off to a strong start, combining to score all 16 points in the opening quarter as Creek trailed 18-16 at the end of one. In fact the duo scored every point by the Cougars in the first half with Doan tallying 14 points and Johnson 13 points as Creek trailed 29-27 at halftime.
“Connor has really been playing well for us and he hit some big shots,” said Waldron. “In the second half they did a box and one on him and didn’t let him get back into the flow of things.”
The second half was all about the Bell Brothers for the Cougars as Jack and Brett combined to score 18 of the 26 second half points.
Brett Bell connected on three three-pointers in the third quarter and Jack scored the final two buckets of the stanza to keep the Cougars within striking range at 49-47.
“Both of those guys hit some big shots,” said Waldron. “Brett hit a couple of big threes (in the third quarter). Brett really does a good job even though he is a freshman.”
OCS outscored Creek 24-6 in the final quarter to pull away for the win.
