After tough defeat, Wildcats bounce back to score win over Cobden

After sustaining a tough conference loss against Nashville last Friday, the Anna-Jonesboro Community High School boys’ basketball team bounced back for a 61-46 win over visiting Cobden Saturday, Dec. 10.

“We played as badly as we possibly could have Friday,” A-J coach Mike Chamness said. “I wasn’t very pleased.  But we bounced back Saturday and we needed that for our confidence.”

On Saturday, A-J built an 8-0 lead behind a 3-pointer apiece from Jake Parr and Jacob Zimmerman to open the game. 

The Wildcats were ahead 16-12 at the end of the first quarter. Cobden fought back to cut the Wildcat lead to 28-25 at the half. 

With Zimmerman hitting another 3-pointer at the buzzer at the end of three quarters, the Wildcats were ahead 42-32 going into the last frame.

“We had a team that never would go away (Saturday),” Chamness said. “They kept coming back.”

Parr had 22 points and 10 rebounds to lead A-J. Zimmerman added 17 points and 2 rebounds. 

Parr and Zimmerman each had 4 3-pointers apiece. Sheldon McGrath had 12 points and 6 rebounds. Izzy Markovic had 5 points, Jade Gillis 3 and Logan Sawyer 2. 

A-J was 11 of 17 from the floor, 10 of 24 from 3-point range and 9 of 13 from the free throw line.

The Appleknockers were 16 of 34 in shot attempts from the floor, 4 of 17 from 3-point range and 2 of 8 from the free throw line.

Nashville 77, A-J 46: The host Wildcats fell behind early and couldn’t catch up in the Southern Illinois River-to-River Conference Mississippi Division loss Friday, Dec. 9.

The Hornets led 21-12 after one quarter and 41-21 at the half. A-J trailed 59-39 headed into the final quarter.

Parr had 21 points and 3 rebounds to lead A-J. McGrath added 9 points and 2 rebounds. Zimmerman had 5 points, Markovic 4, Carson Reynolds 3 and Sawyer and Michael Hill 2 apiece.

A-J was 14 of 29 in shot attempts from the floor, 3 of 13 from 3-point range and 9 of 15 from the free throw line.

The Hornets were 30 of 40 from the field, 3 of 16 from 3-point range and 5 of 8 from the charity stripe.

The Wildcats, 4-3, plan to play conference games Friday at Carterville and Saturday at Massac County.

“It doesn’t get any easier in our conference,” Chamness noted.