Balanced Bears stroll past Bobcats

[KFDM COOP]

Balanced Bears stroll past Bobcats
Van Wade
The Orange Leader

ORANGEFIELD — Spreading the wealth around, the Little Cypress-Mauriceville Bears strolled past the Orangefield Bobcats 65-52 at Bobcat Gym Tuesday night in non-district action.

The Bears (10-5) had six players that scored eight points or more and used a 16-5 spurt in the second period and maintained a solid lead over the Bobcats (7-5) the remainder of the game.

Cameron Johsnon led the balanced Bears with 14 points while Hunter Gonzales contributed 13 points and six rebounds.

Post Preston Armstrong had a nice double-double, tallying 10 points while yanking down a game-high 13 rebounds.

Christian Harley and Johnny Epps scored nine points apiece with Harley burying three three-pointers while guard Aldric Jones penetrated the lane for eight points.

The LC-M win offset a nice 1-2 Bobcat punch in the form of seniors Derrick Evans and Zach Hayes.

Evans fired in a game-high 22 points while Hayes racked up 20 and led the Bobcats with nine rebounds.

It was the Bobcats that got out to a fast start, scoring the game’s first seven points. However, the Bears, getting two three-pointers from Harley and two buckets by Gonzales, took a 10-9 lead at the end of the first period,

Six different Bear players scored in the big second quarter with Jones and Gonzales scoring two buckets apiece while limiting the Bobcats to just two baskets in the period, one each by Evans and Hayes.

Hayes erupted for 12 of his points in the third period but the Bears had five more players score in the period as LC-M led 42-32 heading to the fourth.

The Bobcats trimmed the margin to eight on three different occassions in the fourth but couldn’t draw any closer.

Evans tried hard to rally the Bobcats, scoring 12 of his points in the period while Johnson had seven in the period for the Bears, including going 5-for-5 at the free-throw line.

The Bears dominated the boards, outrebounding the Bobcats 30-19.

The Bobcats finished with just 12 turnovers while the Bears had 16, alot of them that were forced by feisty Orangefield guard Julian Morgan.

LC-M finished 8-of-12 from the free-throw line while the Bobcats went 6-of-14.

The Bears will open District 20-4A play Friday night at The Bear Cave against Port Neches-Groves while the Bobcats take a non-district road trip to Sabine Pass.