Late Fouls Lift Prescott Past ‘Cats, 65-60

For three quarters, the Rison Wildcats had the upper hand against the Prescott Curly Wolves, the top seed from the 7-3A conference, at the Class 3A Region 4 Tournament last Wednesday night at Centerpoint High School.But foul problems finally caught up with the ‘Cats in the fourth quarter as the Wolves hit 14-of-17 attempts in the final period to pull out a 65-60 win over Rison to end its season.Three Wildcats fouled out of the game, including leading scorer Chander Reeves as well as Spencer Towery and Jaquis Rauls.Prescott’s late success at the free throw line ruined what had been a red-hot start by Rison.Chandler Reeves set a blistering pace in the opening frame nailing two 3-pointers, going 5-for-5 at the free throw line, and adding a field goal to finish with 13 points. Towery and Jeremiah Marshall also delivered from long range as Rison took a 20-13 lead heading into the second.Prescott countered with a couple of 3’s of its own in the second to cut the Wildcats’ lead to 32-31 by halftime.In the third, Chandler Reeves put up nine more points as Rison was able to extend its lead to 48-44 by the end of the quarter.But the fouls began to mount in the final period as the Wildcats’ lost Reeves to fouls. His brother, Christian Reeves, picked up the slack in the fourth scoring nine points, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Wolves at the charity stripe.Chandler Reeves, a senior, ended his career with 25 points on the night while Christian Reeves followed with 22.While Rison finished the season at 8-12 overall under first-year Head Coach Kyle Thaxton, the ‘Cats did finish the year with uptick, knocking off Drew Central, which tied with Dumas and Helena for the 8-3A regular season championship, and then push Prescott at the regional tournament.The Curly Wolves went on to advance to the Region 4 finals before falling to 8-3A champion Helena, 73-61....