ARAB — The Arab Knights hit the floor Tuesday night with a purpose, to avenge their loss to the Cullman Bearcats in the Holly Pond Thanksgiving Tournament, and they were on point. The Knights shot the lights out in the early part of the quarter, going on a 14-4 run and leading to a Cullman timeout. The rest of the quarter ran even until Jack Richie got the roll on a buzzer-beating three to put the Knights up by 13, 22-9, to end the first.
Arab continued to run hot in the second, pushing the lead to 18 thanks to a 7-2 run that put Cullman on their heels. The Bearcats scored four straight out of their timeout, but Cole McBride of Arab quickly answered with a three to keep them firmly ahead. The scoring stayed close to even for the remainder of the quarter with Arab tacking on one to their lead. Heading into the half, the Knights owned a 38-19 advantage.
Down but not out, Cullman quickly cut into the Arab lead, scoring the first four points of the half. For the remaining seven minutes, the scoring was back and forth, and the defense was air tight. Arab protected their lead but Cullman proved they were not done and only trailed 47-33 heading into the final quarter of play.
The Bearcats cut the lead to 10 with the first four points of the last stanza, but Joe Norris answered with a three from deep in the right corner to push the lead back to 13. Cullman scored the next four to cut the Arab lead to single digits for the first time since the first quarter.
The Knight lead dwindled to seven on a Cullman put back with 4:24 left to play. The Bearcats forced a five-second call on the inbound play of Arab and Seth Swalve hit the layup to cut the deficit to five. Arab hit a free throw on their end, but Swalve hit a bucket on the Cullman end to make the lead just four
Swalve hit a pair of free throws to get Cullman to within a single bucket with 3:09 left on the clock. Nathan Law hit the front end of a one and one and push the lead to three. Cullman answered to make the lead just one with 2:33 left to play. Cullman grabbed their first lead of the game on an easy layup from Gage Goodwin with 1:21 left in the quarter. Richie hit a layup on Arab end and hit the bonus. Goodwin was then hit with a technical foul for unsporting behavior putting Arab at the line and in possession of the ball. McBride hit one of the free throws, pushing the lead to three.
Swalve converted a pair of free throws to bring Cullman to within one with 16.8 left on the clock. Law hit both free throws on the Arab end giving Cullman the ball with 10.3 left to play. Cullman got a clean look at a three but the shot rimmed out, and Arab took the victory 62-59.
GIRLS
The host Lady Knights started the game cold, going 0-4 from the floor before Cheyenne Flack drilled a deep three from the right wing to start a 7-2 run that quickly required a Cullman timeout in an attempt to break the Arab momentum.
However, the strategy did not work as Arab finished the quarter 16-2 run to pull ahead 23-4 after the first. Flack finished the quarter with 16 of the Lady Knights 23 points. Arab continued to dominate both inside and out in the second, stretching the lead to 31 at the half.
The second half was firmly in the hands of Arab, extending the lead to 32 ensuring the clock would run continuously in the fourth. The Lady Knights would go on to win 70-22.
Cheyenne Flack would finish the game with 35 points.
