by Malcolm Butler
Cedar Creek battled toe-to-toe with Arcadia for most of three quarters Tuesday night, but the Hornets pulled away in the final stanza for a 62-36 victory at The Brickhouse.
The Cougars (12-8, 2-4) trailed 31-16 at halftime but pulled to within seven points at 33-26 three minutes into the third quarter.
Head coach Lance Waldron praised his teams unselfish play.
“That’s two games in a row where we have played as a team and moved the ball around,” said Waldron. “We did a good job of looking for the open man and getting the ball where we wanted in situations we wanted.”
The short-handed Cougars, still playing without seniors Cannon Robbins and Jack Bell, had their hands full on the defensive end of the floor all night, battling the size and athleticism of Arcadia (16-5, 5-1), especially Kristopher Jackson and Kylon Clark.
“Their big guy (Jackson) is 6-foot-6 and he is a load,” said Waldron. “(Clark) isn’t as tall but he was just as athletic. We did a good job of blocking those guys out. I was super proud of the team for the way they rebounded it tonight. That’s a tough group to get some rebounds against.”
Brett Bell, Landon Hall and Luke Waldron played a physical brand inside against the much bigger Hornets, and time after time, put bodies on their opponents when shots went up.
“Brett was huge. We have Landon and Luke and they may not be the ones getting the rebounds, but they are taking the big guys out of the equation so Brett can come in and reap the rewards,” said Waldron. “That’s teamwork. You have to have players really to do that.”
After Bell’s three-pointer cut the Arcadia lead to 33-26 with 4:45 to play in the third quarter, the Hornets scored seven straight before Cameron Temple drained a three-pointer. Another Bell bucket closed the third quarter with Creek trailing 42-31.
However, Arcadia outscored the Cougars 20-5 over the final eight minutes to pull away for the win.
Jake Terry led Creek with 17 points while Bell and Temple each netted seven points. Jackson scored 26 and Clark 12 for the Hornets.
Creek will close out district play Friday when it hosts Jonesboro Hodge.
