Lions, Wildcats shoot the lights out in Luxora

A second quarter power outage at the Charles Strong Center in Luxora could be blamed on the surging shooting of the Manila Lions and the Trumann Wildcats.

For a stretch midway in the second period, the two teams combined to make five of six shots – four nothing-but-net three-pointers – as the teams traded buckets in a tight three-point game. When the dust from the spurt settled, Trumann led 30-27. A couple of minutes later, with Trumann leading 35-34, there was a brief power failure resulting in a stoppage of play.

When play resumed, Manila (6-6) outscored Trumann, 40-23, to post the 74-58 win.

Carson Baltimore drives by Trumann’s Gavin Greenwell in early action between the Lions and the Wildcats. Baltimore hit four three-pointers in a row on his way to 21 points.

The teams combined for 22 3-pointers, both connecting on 11, with the Lions shooting a little better than 52 percent from beyond the arc. Trumann (1-7) couldn’t quite match Manila in three-point efficiency hitting only 34 percent of its tries.

Carson Baltimore, who led Manila with 21 points, hit six three-pointers, including a stretch of four in a row over the first and second quarters. Likewise, Jalen Elrod of Trumann scored 21 with six baskets from long range. The Wildcats actually shot 32 threes compared to just 23 two-point tries, finishing the game 21-of-55 from the field for 38 percent, while Manila shot a sizzling 56 percent from the field.

The Lions fourth quarter performance created separation between the two teams as the margin was only five points at the end of three periods of play.

Manila was 9-of-14 in the stanza, including 5-of-6 from three-point distance, as they built their lead to double digits. During a six minute stretch, Baltimore hit a pair of threes, while teammates Luke Kirk, Rex Farmer and Andrew Evers each had one.

That sparked a 15-6 Lion run which on top of an 11-0 run in the third quarter spelled doom for the Wildcats who played most of the game without starting point guard Coda Cameron, who exited the game due to injury.

In addition to Baltimore’s double digit scoring, Farmer tallied 19, Kirk 17 and Evers 11 for Manila. Nine of Evers’s 11 points came on threes.

For Trumann, Cobey Riddle followed Elrod’s 21 points with 17.