By Ronnie Hughes

Leader Correspondent

ORANGEFIELD — Following a huge road win on Tuesday against rival Bridge City the Orangefield Bobcats would attempt to ride the wave of momentum into Friday nights game versus the Little Cypress-Mauriceville Bears. Unfortunately, the outcome didn’t favor the Bobcats as they’d be on the losing end of a 55-43 District 24-4A battle and had no answer for the hot handed Cameron Parker who dropped 17 points in the win.

The win puts the Bears at 3-3 in 24-4A play while the Bobcats slipped to 2-4.

The Cats’ have had their share of woes this season including losing two key players just after the start of district play. The lack of depth showed Friday night as they struggled to keep pace with an experienced Bears squad that are able to sub in and out five guys at a time.

The Bears grabbed an early lead and never looked back. Katon Brown started the scoring for the Bears and hit their first six points of the game. The Bobcats were unable to grab rebounds early in the contest and could not capitalize on the plethora of early misses by the Bears. Junior Keegan Sonnier checked in the game late in the first quarter for the Bears and hit a three-point shot with under a minute left in the quarter. Parker followed up Sonniers hot shot with a three-point play of his own at the buzzer and to extend the lead to 14-4.

Parker extended the Bears run to 13 points to open the second quarter with a long-range three from the top of the arch. Bears led 17-4 before Aven Lathrop hit a three of his own to end the Bobcats drought. Moments later his brother Payton Lathrop hit a three to cut the Bear lead to just 7 points 19-12. The Cats’ had a surge in the second pulling within four points before Brown quieted the crowd with a huge rebound and put back to swing some momentum back to the Bears who’d lead 31-23 at halftime. Parker and Brown both had double-digit scoring in the first half for LC-M. Aven Lathrop contributed 14 points off the bench for on the night for Orangefield.

Brown led off the third quarter with a drive to the basket for an easy layup and put the Bears up by 10 points. Parker kept his hot shooting streak alive hitting his third three-point shot of the night just moments later. He has been shooting exceptionally well over the past two games dropping 8 threes in that span and finished with 17 points against the Cats’. The Bears led by 14 to close the third quarter after Sonnier hit a three just moments before the buzzer.

The miscues and wretched shooting continued for the Bobcats into the fourth. LC-M senior guard, Andrew Daspit, would snatch the ball away from Wesley Frillou and speed down the floor for an easy bucket to start the quarter. Paul Joubert excited the Bear crowd with a three from the corner pocket to put the game out of reach for the Cats’ and a 21 point LC-M lead. Orangefield had a very brief 6-0 run sparked by Aven Lathrop three point shot, but it wasn’t enough to put the Cats back into the game. Aven was 4 of 5 shooting from down-town on the night. Sophomore Alex Catt chipped in 10 points in the loss for the Bobcats. Brown had 18 points for the Bears while the bench mustered just 8 points.

The schedule does not get any easier for the Bobcats as they travel to play a tough Hardin Jefferson team on Tuesday while the red-hot Bears return home to host the Longhorns of Hamshire-Fannett who look to slow down a Battlin’ Bears team.