The Madill Wildcats improved to 13-5 on the season as they handled the Sulphur Bulldogs by a score of 48-33 before a friendly home crowd Feb. 4.
Madill’s first bucket came through a a Miguel Duran pullup jumper. The teams both played an uptempo pace to open the game. Fuentes bounced a three off the front iron to give Madill an early 5-2 advantage.
Sulphur’s Brandon Lloyd made a close shot to cut the deficit to 5-4 with 3:27 to go in the first quarter.
However, a foul was called against the visitors on Durans next shot. He made one of the two free throws.
Duran followed that with a three on Madill’s next possession. Then, the senior guard scored a breakaway two to push the host’s lead to 11 to 4. A block attempt by a Sulphur player missed and his hand made an audible slap on the backboard.
The Wildcat bench and home half of the gym erupted after multiple contact fouls were not called by the refs.
TJ Todd made a short shot for Sulphur to cut it to 11-6.
The Wildcats moved to a single possession offense to end the quarter. Eventually Duran found junior guard Ezekiel Fuentes who dribbled around a defender to stroke a three giving Madill a 14-6 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Second quarter
Sulphur’s Reese Ratchford opened the scoring to start the second half. Fuentes answered with a three to put Madill up 17-8. Madill’s next possession saw Duran take a foul on an attempted layup. He made the first shot before Sulphur took a timeout at the 6:25 mark. Duran made the second free throw following the timeout to give the Wildcats a 19-8 advantage.
Fuentes was called for a shooting foul on Matlack who missed both shots.
Todd gott inside for a close basket to cut Madill’s lead to eight points. The Wildcats then took a 30-second timeout with 4:51 to go in the second quarter.
Duran found Asa Robertson for a quick two.
On the other end Robertson and 22 got tangled up for the ball after which the Bulldog sophomore was called for a foul. Robertson was visibly upset with the call
Robertson scored from close range at the other end.
Score is now 23-11. Arms made a free throw to make it 23-13 with 2:58 to go in the half.
Fuentes hit a two to make it 25-13 with 2:25 to go.
Seniors Lolo Ortega and Austin Maxey checked in just after the two minute mark.
Lloyd was fouled by Maxey on the next Sulphur posession. He made both free throws to cut Madill’s lead to five opoints.
The Bulldogs switched to a full court press to end the half but Duran found a hole and made a close-range shot to increase Madill’s lead to seven points.
The ball was in Todd’s hands as the seconds wound down. Then, he found Lloyd cutting toward the basket for what looked like an uncontested bucket. However, Maxey would have none of it and blocked the shot.
The Wildcats took a 27-20 lead into halftime.
Third quarter
Vann missed a three on Madill’s first possession of the third quarter. However, Gray grabbed the board and the Wildcats continued to move the ball around and then Fuentes scored.
Arms made a two of his own to make it 29-23.
Gray nailed a three on the next Wildcat possession to make it 32-23.
The Wildcats went back to work shortly there after as Robertson posted up on Llyod and drew contact on his shot. The senior forward made both of his free throws to increase Madill’s lead to 34-23.
Vann interceoted a pass to get the ball back to the Wildcats. The resulting possession found Fuentes at the line for two shots. He made both shots to increase Madill’s advantage to 36-23.
Sulphur’s Nash Matlack was fouled by Robertson with 4:00 to go in the third. The senior guard made both free throws to cut the Madill lead to 11 points or 36-25.
At the 3:32 mark, a pile up resulted in Robertson getting hurt his left ankle and leaving the game. Ortega came in for Robertson. Following the break, Fuentes missed a three pointer short. Sulphur responded quickly as Arms made a three of his own.
Madill head coach Brett Weiberg called a timeout after the play. Two possession later, Fuentes scored on a fas break to put the Wildcats up 38-28.
The score stayed at 32-28 to end the third quarter.
Fourth quarter
Madill got the ball back to start the fourth quarter. The hosts slowed the pace down on their first possession which opend some passing lanes.
However the hosts weren;’t able to take advaange of said space until their next possession when Fuentes stroked a three from the corner.
Sulphur responded with a three of their own to make it 41-31.
Sulphur got the ball back with 5:55 to go after Fuentes was called for a travel.
Some scrappy defense by the Wildcats forced a Bulldogs turnover with 5:22 to go in the fourth quarter. Weiberg took a timeout to talk tactics with his team.
Following the timeout Du ran had a three-point shot bounce out of the rim. But Fuentes was there to gran the offensive board and score a putback to give Madill a 43-31 lead.
Todd grabbed a steal and took it the length of the court for what looked to be an easy layup. However, Gray kept pace and smacked the ball out of bounds. Todd made one shot to make it 43-33. Robertson checked back in with 3:11 to go.
Ortega was fuled by Lloyd and Madill went back to work. Robertson replaced Ortega.
Eventually, the ball found its way into Fuentes’ hands. The junior guard scored a midrange shot and got a free throw to make it 46-33. Fuentes’ dribbleing prowess on the play elicited ooohs and awwws from the Wildcats faithful.
Madill moved into the bonus with 1:24 to go as Robertson was fouled by a Sukpohur player. He made both shots to increase Madill’s lead to 48-33.
Notes: Senior forward Trent Harvey did not dress for the game following a knee injury in a game against Comanche on Jan. 31. He returned for the Wildcats Feb. 7 game at Dickson.