By T. Scott Boatright
GRAMBLING — Overall team health is a crucial factor for any sports team, especially late in the season.
And as Cedar Creek traveled a few miles southwest Friday night to play at Lincoln Prep in a District 1-1A boys basketball matchup, the Panthers were healthy and the Cougars weren’t.
The result was a 63-28 home win for Lincoln Prep inside the LPS Gym.
Cedar Creek was playing without three of its starters, including leading scorer Canon Robbins, now out for the season after breaking both elbows suffered last week in a loss to Ringgold. The Cougars were also without Jack Bell (illness) and Jake Terry (undisclosed).
That fact wasn’t lost on Panthers coach Antonio Hudson.
“We changed our game plan when we found out they had three starters out because we knew we had to press hard,” Hudson said. “But I really hate it, because (Cedar Creek coach Lance) Waldron really had those guys playing well over there and they had a chance to make some noise in the postseason. I guess that’s just basketball.
“I feel sorry for those kids. I feel bad for them. Robbins is a senior, and I feel bad for any kid like that because not being able to finish their senior year is tough. And we all know it would have been a much better Cedar Creek team we faced tonight if they would have been out there.”
Lincoln Prep opened with a 8-2 run in the first 2:01 of the contest with the “Brothers Spann” — junior Trey Spann and sophomore Josiah Spann each nailing 3-pointers, Josiah from the wing and Trey from above the key.
“Josiah can score the ball,” Hudson said. “He can score at a high rate. With him, we just have to figure out a way to get him in and use him defensively. But no exaggeration, he’s probably the best all-around scorer that we have — he’s shifty with the basketball, he can shoot the basketball, he’s crafty around the rim.
“He still needs to find ways to get those shots off, but he’s going to be a really good player as he gains more and more experience. But just him gaining added confidence heading into the playoffs is big for our whole team.”
The Panthers marched out to a 19-9 advantage by the end of the first quarter before outsourcing the Cougars 21-8 in the second to push their lead to 51-23 at halftime.
That didn’t deter Waldron from being proud of his team’s effort from opening tip to the final buzzer.
“I thought we did a real good job of sharing the ball and moving the ball around,” Waldron said. “That was one of our goals going in. We’ve been working on it a lot, but it just so happens that we lost three starters. And we weren’t able to do it, especially with all the pressure Lincoln Prep brings.
“But I was really proud of the way we handled that and kept our emotions in check and didn’t get in a hurry.”
Both Spanns recorded double-doubles for the Panthers, with Trey hitting for 16 points while also chalking up eight rebounds and Josiah scoring 12.
Zion Hicks added 10 points for the Panthers while Hicks chipped in with four.
Cedar Creek was led by Cameron Temple with seven points while Brett Bell and Zack Waldron added six each for the Panthers and Lance Waldron totaled five.
“I’m really excited about the future and this team going forward,” Lance Waldon said. “We’ve got to plug some holes, you know we’ve had an injury or two, and some of the other guys stepped up and I think we’re going to see a lot of progress.
“We’ve had to shift gears because we’ve been relying on some heavy scoring by Cannon and we don’t have that anymore. So we have to change what we do and it’s going to take a little bit of time for us to do it. But after tonight, I’m really excited about what’s going on.”
Cedar Creek (12-7, 2-3 in District 1-1A) will next play host to Arcadia on Tuesday while Lincoln Prep (20-7, 4-1) will play at Plain Dealing that same night.
