Bobcats cruise in Red Devil tourney

PORT BARRE – The Eunice High Bobcats improved their record to 4-0 with a 56-32 victory over the Opelousas Catholic High Vikings Tuesday evening at the Port Barre High Basketball Tournament.
Coach Chad Andrepont’s Bobcats started in strong fashion, taking a 14-0 lead at the 4:11 mark of the first quarter. The Vikings, though, went on a 5-1 run over the remainder of the quarter to make it a 15-5 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Malik Poullard led the Bobcats in the opening quarter with seven points, hitting a three-point field goal to go along with two field goals.
Trey Francis had three points to pace the Vikings.
The Vikings continued their run by scoring the first five points of the second quarter to cut the lead to 15-10 thanks to the play of Matt Conde’, who scored all five points to complete an 8-0 run.
The Bobcats responded, however, as Brandon Ndubueze got a bucket with a tip-in when Mitchell Cormier’s shot bounced off the rim.
The goal gave the Cats a 17-10 lead, but the Vikings’ Matthew Collins cut the lead to five points with a driving goal.
Poullard got the lead back up to 20-12 with a three-point goal at the 5:31 mark of the second quarter.
A shot by Collins and a three-point goal by Jacobi Richard cut the Bobcat lead to 20-17 before Halen Jack had a steal and a driving basket to put the Cats back on top by a 22-17 margin.
Collins cut the lead to 22-19 with a field goal, but the Bobcats outscored the Vikings 6-0 over the final minutes of the first half to go to the break with a 28-19 lead thanks to goals by Ndubueze, Jack, and Georrein Dupre.
The Vikings used the shooting Richard to close the gap in the third quarter, and actually outscored the Bobcats in that quarter by a 13-10 margin to cut the Eunice lead to 41-32 heading into the fourth quarter.
But the Bobcats ramped up their defense over the final eight minutes to secure the victory, scoring 18 points on offense while not allowing the Vikings to score over the final eight minutes of play.
Kevin Williams did the damage for the Bobcats in the quarter with eight points, six of which came on goals from beyond the 3-point arc.
Williams finished the game with 15 points to lead the Bobcats. Malik Poullard added 13, Ndubueze had 10, and Cormier had seven to lead the scoring. Richard led the Vikings in scoring with 13 points.
In their opening game of the tournament on Monday, the Bobcats posted a 54-51 victory over the Notre Dame Pioneers.
After a 13-13 tie in the opening quarter, the Bobcats began to pull away from the Pios thanks to the 3-point shooting of Malik Poullard and Williams in the second quarter. The Cats maintained a 29-24 lead at halftime.
The Bobcats continued their strong play in the third quarter, outscoring the Pios 19-11 with Ndubueze and Cormier leading the way with four points apiece.
Notre Dame attempted to rally back in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Cats by a 16-6 margin, but the rally fell just short.
Malik Poullard and Ndubueze led the Bobcats in scoring against the Pios with 15 and 11 points, respectively. Cormier scored eight and Williams added six points for the Cats.
Hunter Meche led Notre Dame with 19 points and Nygel Billy had 13 for the Pioneers.
Eunice will face Livonia on Tuesday at home.