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By Keagan Smith

Orange Leader

LITTLE CYPRESS – The West Orange-Stark Mustangs defeated the Little Cypress-Mauriceville Bears 69-58 in Tuesday night’s District 22-4A meeting at The Grove Tuesday night.

It was a huge win for the Mustangs (8-12, 3-4), who had played their last two games basically with their junior varsity due to Covid-19 protocols as they now find themselves back in the playoff race.

Both schools entered the evening with just two wins in district play, so it was a must-win situation for each. The Mustangs took an early lead and were up 18-13 after the first quarter. In the second LC-M (10-13, 2-6) nearly caught up to their opponent and only trailed by 1 point, 26-25 at the half.

WO-S turned up the heat in the second half. The Mustangs scored 21 points coming out of halftime, all while playing lockdown defense, holding LC-M to just 8 third-quarter points. At the end of three quarters WOS remained ahead 47-33.

The ensuing fourth quarter was extremely competitive. LC-M nearly caught up several times but could never quite pull ahead. The Mustangs’ clutch-time offense, led by 12 points from Michael Wardlow in the fourth, proved too much for their rival to handle.

The Mustangs were led in scoring by Wardlow with 23 points, Braden Gant with 15, and Darren Anderson with 10.

The Bears’ top performers were Ben Elliot with 17 points, followed up by Jesse Doucette with 16 and De’Marion Morris with 15. Doucette was back in action for the first time in awhile due to an injury and played well.

The Mustangs will welcome in Vidor to Mustang Gym Friday. The Bears have a bye Friday and will visit Vidor next Tuesday.