NLR BARELY HOLDS ON AGAINST TIGERS

North Little Rock was Moody at the start and Fresh at the end in its 7A-Central Conference opener. The moments in between, however, left the Charging Wildcats feeling a little anxious Friday night at the Little Rock Central fieldhouse. Sophomore Moses Moody scored 12 of his game-high 16 points in the first quarter, and senior Ray Fresh scored 6 of his 8 points in the game's final 7:08 as the 'Cats held on for a 50-46 victory over the Tigers. North Little Rock (12-3, 1-0 7A-Central) led 24-6 midway through the second quarter but had trouble putting the Tigers away. Central (4-8, 0-1) clawed back to as close as 33-31 in the third quarter before the 'Cats regained their footing. "We played like sophomores," NLR Coach Johnny Rice said. "We're 15 games in now. That's over with. You can't say you're sophomores now. We were very sloppy. We didn't play with any urgency on either end of the floor. But we hung on and won, and I'm tickled to death with that." Central's Rajhon McIntosh scored the game's first point by hitting a free throw 70 seconds into the contest. North Little Rock responded with the next 16 points, 12 of them coming from the 6-3 Moody. Central missed its first 16 shots from the floor, and when North Little Rock junior Collin Moore put in a five-footer with 4:25 left in the half, the Cats' advantage stood at 18. The Tigers did not not get their first field goal to fall until McIntosh put in a layup with 3:19 remaining in the first half. Central did score 11 of the final 13 points of the first half to trail 26-17 at the break. "I put kids out on the floor whose parents weren't trying to coach them," Central Coach Oliver Fitzpatrick said. "That was the adjustment that was made. That's why we made a comeback." McIntosh scored 8 of his team-high 14 points in the final 3:19 of the first half. Junior Ky'Lyn Arnett scored 8 of his 13 points in the third quarter. Jaylin Sasser pulled the Tigers to within 39-36 early in the fourth quarter, but that was as close as Central would get. Fresh hit two free throws to push the 'Cats' lead back to five, 41-36. Fresh also connected on a layup at the 2:52 mark and hit two more free throws with 58.3 seconds to play.

Central High School Athletics

NLR BARELY HOLDS ON AGAINST TIGERS

Photo Credit: Thomas Metthe