Cutter Morning Star may have definitively won the second half of Friday night's matchup against Maumelle Charter, but a terrible second quarter left the Eagles wanting as the Falcons took a 67-48 win at Eagle Fieldhouse.
The Eagles (9-5, 2-3 in 1A/2A-12) were held to a mere two points in the second period, a putback with 1:54 remaining by Jaylan Puckett, as Maumelle Charter (13-10, 4-2) rolled to a 37-12 halftime lead. CMS hit 1 of 11 from the field in the second frame, but missed all five attempts at the free throw line. The Falcons shot 8-for-18 overall and 2-for-6 from distance.
"I didn't like our effort from the very beginning," said head coach Matt Carter. "We played scared and we did not play hard. They really took it to us physically. They were outplaying us and they did for the whole first half. We created such a hole we couldn't come back."
Coming out of the break, the Eagles started out strong with a 12-3 run in the opening 2:54 to cut their deficit to 40-24 and pull within 15 with more than three minutes remaining in the period before closing with a 9-4 run for a 51-39 deficit with eight minutes remaining.
"At some point and time, you've got to want to be out there and want to compete," Carter said. "You can't be afraid to compete. We're just young and afraid to compete sometimes. I just told them it's a pride thing. They've got to have a little pride.
"There is nothing I can draw on the board as far as drawing up effort. You can't draw up effort. You have to go out there and compete, and you have to give effort. They did that in the third quarter."
The Falcons opened the final frame with a 6-0 run before the two teams had a short back-and-forth affair to make it 59-43 with 5:12 to go. Another 6-0 run propelled Maumelle Charter to a 67-43 lead before Clay Pratt hit a trey with 1:09 left to make it 67-46. A steal and layup from Keaton Polke set the final.
Maumelle started off the game on a 6-1 run in the opening four minutes before an 8-4 run to take a 14-5 lead with 2:18 left in the opening period. The Eagles closed out the period with a 5-3 run for a 17-10 deficit after eight minutes.
Ryan Brown paced the Eagles with 17 points, six rebounds, four steals and an assist. Mason Treat had 15 points with seven rebounds, two steals and two blocks.
"They did a good job of being real physical with him," Carter said regarding Maumelle's defense on Brown. "It's tough to get to the rim when you're getting fouled quite a bit. He was getting fouled quite a bit. It's not getting called, and it's advantageous to the other team. To his credit, he was trying to get through some of that. I always tell them you're going to get fouled on some nights and it's not going to get called. You've got to try to play through it, and I thought in the second half he competed better and did that.
"It comes down to we've got to have a tougher mindset coming out the beginning of the game overall as a whole. It's not any one person. It's a complete team effort with our mindset, and we've got to be better than that to start games."
Justin Fudge led all scorers with 27 points, five steals and three rebounds, and Brandon El-Amin added 14 points with five rebounds.
The Eagles will host Magnet Cove Tuesday. CMS defeated the Panthers, 43-41, in the last meeting of the two schools on Dec. 8 in Magnet Cove.
Junior boys
Cutter Morning Star came back from a 22-19 deficit at the end of the third quarter to down Maumelle Charter, 28-26, at Eagle Fieldhouse Friday night.
The junior Eagles held a 9-7 lead after one, stretching that to 11-7 early in the second before the two teams traded baskets in the back-and-forth affair. CMS never lost its lead, but the junior Falcons were able to pull within one point with 19 seconds remaining for an 18-17 CMS lead at the break.
Maumelle Charter the its first lead of the second half with 4:13 remaining, 21-19, but the junior Eagle defense held them to just one more point for a 22-19 deficit entering the final frame.
KaShawn Blevins converted a three-point play with a bucket and free throw with 5:43 remaining to knot the score at 22-22. Mitchell Herron put up a shot to give the junior Eagles the lead once more with 3:59 remaining, 24-22.
Jordan Muldoon hit his only basket of the night with 58 seconds remaining to put the Eagles up by two. Maumelle Charter answered with 31 seconds to go to set the final.
Herron and Sam Moore paced the junior Eagles with nine points each. Blevins adding five points.
Maumelle Charter's Hudgins led the junior Falcons with nine points.
The junior Eagles will host Ouachita Thursday.
Sports on 01/07/2018