KFDM COOP Posted December 12, 2008 Report Posted December 12, 2008 OF takes down LC-M at Bobcats Classic Van Wade The Orange Leader ORANGEFIELD — Clamp-down defense. That’s what Orangefield coach Rea Wrinkle stresses to his Bobcats. Well, the Bobcats have answered the call pretty much all season. After falling behind Little Cypress-Mauriceville 22-11 early in the second period, the Bobcats limited the Bears to just 21 points over the final 22 minutes of the game to zip to a 51-43 victory and a berth in the championship game of their very own Bobcat Tournament Friday night at Bobcat Gym. The Bobcats will take on Port Neches-Groves at 4:30 p.m. today in the title tilt. Orangefield (8-2) was able to cut the Bears (3-7) lead to 24-20 at intermission and controlled the style of the game the final 16 minutes. The Bobcats limited the Bears to just six third-period points and they cranked out 14 to go up 34-30 heading to the fourth. Orangefield received 10 points from Zach Hayes, who finished with 16 points and five rebounds, in the second half and his runner in the lane gave the Bobcats a 47-40 cushion with less than a minute left. LC-M sophomore Hunter Gonzales,, who led the Bears with 14 points and eight rebounds, trimmed the margin to 47-43 by nailing three straight free throws with 0:24 left. The Bobcats’ Tyler Angelle made it a 49-43 game with 0:22 left with two free throws. The Bobcats then buckled down on defense, halting the Bears to a bad shot and Stefan Addison wrapped up the game with a lay-up at the buzzer. “Our defense really paves the way for us,†said Wrinkle. “It makes things so much easier on the offensive end when we clamp down on defense. We were letting them (LC-M) penetrate way too much in the first quarter. After that, we settled down and the kids showed a lot better awareness of where they were at the rest of the way.†Addison finished with eight points and five boards. Angelle and Garrett Granger finished with seven points apiece. Luke Thomas had eight points and eight rebounds for the Bears while Jake Tsuchiya had seven points and five rebounds. The Bears outrebounded the Bobcats 27-22. Orangefield went 12-of-15 from the free-throw line while the Bears went just 7-of-13. LC-M committed 13 turnovers while the Bobcats had 14. The two Orange County foes will meet again Monday night, this time at the Bear Cave at LC-M. “I tell you, LC-M is an up-and-coming young team with Coach (Darin) Harley, and you can just see a ton of potential in them and they will be a threat when 20-4A starts,†said Wrinkle. “It’ll be a good atmosphere Monday night for our kids. There’s the “Bear Crazies†(the LC-M student section) that get the Bears rolling over there. Our kids will face that kind of thing when we go to Hardin-Jefferson later in district. We need that.†In the other semifinal, the PN-G Indians went on a 34-20 tear in the second half to stroll past the Milburn Academy Wildcats 57-43. The Indians (5-5) were patient on offense throughout and only turned the ball over six times compared to Milburn’s 16. Brennan Doty led the Indians with 17 points and Travis Weathersbee poured in 15. Jamey Chatagnier pumped in 10 points and led the Indians with six rebounds while Spencer DeRon added seven points and five boards. PN-G outrebounded the Wildcats 22-20. PN-G went 7-of-13 from the free-throw line while Milburn was just 1-for-2. Jamuad Broussard led Milburn with 16 points and he hit four three-pointers. John Bridges had 11 points and a team-high six rebounds while Charles Francis and Michael Moreau had five rebounds apiece. The Bridge City Cardinals (10-3) will take on Buna at 10:30 a.m. in the consolation finals after they defeated District 21-3A rival Hamshire-Fannett (6-6) 57-53. The Cardinals were down 47-43 at the end of the third period but closed out the Longhorns with a 14-7 spurt in the final eight minutes. Nate McAnelly had six of his 14 points in the fourth period for the Cardinals and finished with 14 points. Tanner Girouard also had 14 points while Zach Heinze had 13 and Will Veillon added eight. Cory Adams led the Longhorns with 14 points while Phillip Williams had 11 and Logan Johnson chimed in with 10. Buna downed Sabine pass 47-46 in a nailbiter. Buna’s Kevin Darling, who had 24 points and 12 boards, hit two free throws with less than six seconds left to seal it for the Cougars. Teammate Scott Edwards had a double-double as well, tallying 11 points while snaring 14 rebounds. Felix Jones led the Sharks with a double-double as he scored 13 points and had 12 rebounds. Hunter Cruthirds had 12 points while guard Justin Nguyen added nine. Sabine Pass will take on H-F at 9 a.m. in a consolation tilt.
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