The El Dorado Wildcats (7-8) ended their two-game losing streak by putting away the Maize South Mavericks (3-12) 57-39 in El Dorado.
The Wildcats were coming off consecutive loses to Wellington and Wichita Collegiate, respectively.
“I think the win refocuses us, we’ve got Buhler coming up a week from tonight who is leading our division,” El Dorado coach Gary Melcher said. “They’re coming to our place and I’m taking the blame. We were concerned about the process of the last two games and not the outcomes. I didn’t spend enough time talking about what we talked about in the workouts all season up to that point. I thought we might be ready to take some things for granted and we’re not there yet. But the kids have done well all year and we can’t complain about that and I think the kids got back to the basics and feel good.”
It was a close first half for both teams. The Mavericks took an 8-6 lead after the opening quarter but an 18-point push in the second quarter constructed a 24-23 halftime advantage for the Wildcats.
El Dorado made life miserable for the Mavericks on defense by allowing only three points in the third quarter. El Dorado extended their lead to 34-25 after the third.
Just as they did in the second quarter, the Wildcats made a big scoring drive by getting 23 points with most of the baskets coming from the free-throw line as they were sent to the charity stripe eight times in the final four minutes of the game. The Wildcats managed to score 13 points from the line in the fourth quarter.
“We shot free throws significantly better tonight than we have on the season. I think we’re 68 percent as a team,” Melcher said. “We have some kids who can shoot the ball well and if you ask the kids, we shoot free throws virtually every morning before school and a lot of free throw shooting is repetition and a lot of free throw shooting is confidence. I think our kids felt like we were playing much more like we were wanting to play and I think that adds to the confidence and we sure knocked a bunch of them down.”
Travis House scored 23 points for the Wildcats while Austin Riffel scored 12 on the night. Wes Phillips had nine points for the evening for the Mavericks.
The Wildcats will have a week off until their next game against Buhler, a team that currently sits in first place in the Ark Valley Chisolm Trail Division III.
According to Melcher, though, there is not a moment to spare in getting ready for next week’s late contest.
“I really don’t like days off; we’re already having to take a Saturday off tomorrow,” said Melcher. “But I think sometimes you get stale. Hopefully, we can string together a couple of good practices and I think if we can, we can continue to improve. We’re certainly not a finished product. We’re showing signs of getting better in really different areas and in different nights and you always hope that by the end of the season everything comes together and it comes together at the proper time, which in my mind, is sub-state. If you’re going to string three together and play you’re best basketball of the season, Saturday of sub-state is the time to play it.”
The Wildcats will square off with the Crusaders on Friday, Feb. 10 in Buhler. The Crusaders ended this week with an 11-2 record. The Wildcats will be looking to avenge an earlier defeat against Buhler this season, which was a 67-62 loss in January.
Lady Crusaders overcome early deficit in win over El Dorado
The El Dorado Lady Wildcats (3-12) lost in a close game to the Maize South Lady Mavericks (10-5) 45-43.
The Lady Wildcats had a nine-point lead in the first half before Maize scored 19 points in the second quarter to bring their deficit to only two points at halftime.
The Lady Wildcats could only score three points in the third quarter before making a 13-point run in the fourth quarter. It would be to no avail, however, as the Lady Wildcats’ losing skid extends to three games.
They will also have a week off until their next contest on Feb. 10 with Buhler.
The Lady Crusaders currently sit at the .500 mark with a 7-7 record.
