Bobcats win close home game

The Bobcat boys basketball team split a pair of games this weekend, losing a close one to Powell, 50-57, before topping Lovell 51-48.

Coach Shane Corpening said the Powell game was a tough one. "Our effort was outstanding, but our execution at times wasn't where it needed to be. Powell maintained about an 8-12 point lead throughout the game, but we made a good run at the end to where we cut the lead to four points with about a minute and a half to go.

"From there, we took a couple of forced shots and gave up a couple offensive rebounds to Powell. In addition, we didn't shoot the ball well from the free throw line down the stretch. These factors hurt us with limited possessions remaining."

Corpening said he thought the team defense was pretty solid, but the boys gave up too many offensive rebounds to be successful. They will keep working to improve in that area in the weeks to come as they head toward the end of the season.

Duder Harvey had a nice game against Powell, scoring 17 points and grabbing eight rebounds. Jarron Mortimore also played well, pitching in 13 points.

At home, against Lovell, the boys bounced back, Saturday.

Hardy Johnson and Sterling Gerber were red hot from the perimeter as they combined for 11/14 from the three-point line. Johnson dropped 5/6 and Gerber, 6/8.

Johnson had an impressive second quarter, knocking down a pile of three-pointers, including a buzzer beater, to take the team to the locker room.

Gerber hit some huge shots from the outside in the third and fourth quarters when the team needed them the most.

"I see these two shoot like this all the time in practice and I'm happy they were both able to turn it on like that," Corpening said. "Defensively, I thought we played one of our best games of the season. We stymied Lovell's offense pretty much all afternoon. I think we held them scoreless for the last three or four minutes of the game, which proved to be the difference maker."

The Cats had a 16 point lead midway through the second quarter and went into the locker room with an 11 point lead.

The third quarter was something of a disaster as they squandered away their lead.

"I think we stopped being aggressive and started to turn the ball over as Lovell applied some defensive pressure," Corpening said. "At one point, midway through the fourth quarter, we actually were down by a point, but as I mentioned earlier, we held them scoreless for the last three or four minutes and we hit some big shots down the stretch.

"It was a great team effort and I'm happy for the boys that they were able to pull out the win."

The Cats have two huge conference games coming up this weekend. They will face Newcastle at home on Friday and then travel to Douglas on Saturday.