By Ronnie Hughes

Leader Correspondent

WEST ORANGE — After being beat in the first half of District 24-4A play by the West Orange-Stark Mustangs, the Orangefield Bobcats again would fall victim to another tough loss at the hands of of the Stangs’,45-27 at Mustang Gym Tuesday night.

The Cats’ kept things close through one half of play, but the mistakes again would haunt them as they let the game get away from them. Bobcat head coach, Rea Wrinkle, mentioned before the game that the team that wins out will essentially lock-up the final district spot and the magic district win number is five wins. Unfortunately, the loss on Tuesday may put the Cats’ post season hope in peril.

WO-S improved to 3-5 in 24-4A play while the Bobcats slipped to 2-7.

WO-S got started with a KJ Miller three point shot, but following a 5-0 early lead the Mustangs went cold and found themselves forcing shots. Alex Catt battled the boards hard for the Bobcats and scored their first two buckets of the night to help keep the game close.

Aven Lathrop hit a three-point shot off a Matthew Watkins assist to give the Cats a two-point advantage before Jared Dupree ended the Mustang drought with an easy layup to tie the game seven a piece at the end of one.

The two squads both went cold for the first two minutes of the second quarter. Miller hit two free-throws to break the cold streak and give the lead back to the Stangs.

Payton Lathrop drove the lane for an Orangefield bucket on the next possession and that would be last time the two teams would be tied. Junior Corey Skinner went on a scoring spree over the final three minutes of the half to ignite an 11-0 run to end the quarter with the Mustang lead at 25-17. Skinner dropped 17 points on the night to lead all scorers.

Freshman guard, Brettin Wiley, started off the third quarter with a bucket and one shot. He converted the free-throw to extend the lead to double digits for the Mustangs, which led to a 10-2 run, that put them in total control of the game as they held Orangefield to just three third quarter points. Wiley contributed 12 points on the night with Miller scoring 10.

Aven Lathrop hit two shots to give the Cats’ some hope to open the fourth quarter. WO-S would again go on a stale shooting streak for first two and half minutes. Luckily for the Stangs’ the Bobcats were unable to make crucial free-throw shots, missing seven in the final quarter. The Mustangs would gallop to a 9-2 run to end the game sparked by a Skinner three pointer from deep in the corner. Aven led the Bobcats with seven points on 3-13 shooting.

The Mustangs will travel to Hamshire-Fannett to take on a banged up Longhorns team before they return home for another tough home game against Bridge City.

“We have to make baskets and be more careful with our shot selection,” said Mustang Head coach Tremaine Hancock “If we can pick up the tempo we can win these next three games.”

The Bobcats will have the night off Friday, but will pick up action again Tuesday at home against Hamshire-Fannett.