CUBA — Cuba High School’s boys basketball team began their season by traveling to New Madrid to compete in games on Nov. 28 and Nov. 29 in the Riverbend Shootout Classic against Campbell and West Memphis (AK), respectively.

The Tournament was broadcast live on YouTube by Aycorp Sports with James Hodges and Bobby Alford providing play-by-play and color commentary.

The Wildcats found themselves in a battle throughout the afternoon against Campbell. Cuba dug themselves in a 13-8 hole after the first quarter and a 30-21 deficit at halftime. Cuba struggled to find its rhythm on offense, and finished with nine first-half turnovers. Cuba’s lone bright spot early in the game was junior guard Braden Gipson who kept the Wildcats in contention throughout the evening with marksman shooting. Gipson scored 15 of his game-high 25 points in the first half, and nailed three shots from downtown in the second quarter alone.

The Wildcats trailed by as many as 10 points in the fourth quarter and were down by eight with less than one minute left in the game, but used swarming defense to give themselves a chance to win. After Cameron Carnal stole the ball, got fouled and knocked down a pair of free throws, the deficit shrunk to six. Ethan Noltkamper then picked up another steal and quickly whipped the ball ahead to Gipson who nailed another three-pointer to make it a three point difference with 34 seconds left. After forcing a wild shot, Cuba got the ball with 20 seconds left with a chance to tie the game. But Carnal missed a mid-range jump shot with 14 seconds left and Campbell made a free throw in the waning seconds to make it a two-possession game and put it out of reach. Cuba allowed just seven points in the fourth quarter.

Despite the loss, Cuba head coach DJ Dace was positive about his team’s effort in their first game of the season.

“We almost pulled it out in the end. In the first quarter, our youth showed,” Dace said. “We played a really good fourth quarter and got it down to three, but just didn’t get a clean shot at the end.”

Carnal scored 14 points on 6-17 shooting. AJ Flores knocked down two shots from long distance and finished with eight points. Caleb Brown chipped in two points to round out the Wildcats’ scoring. Kennan Siebert led Campbell with 18 points. He was one of four Siebert’s to see action in the game.

Gipson shot an efficient 10-17 from the floor, which included five makes from three-point range. Dace said that he wasn’t surprised by Gipson’s offensive outburst and sees the first game as a learning experience for his team.

“He’s (Gipson) going to have a good year. We’ll just keep getting better as we get experience. It was a good first game,” Dace said. 

Cuba didn’t fare as well on Nov. 29 against a West Memphis team that had a significant size and speed advantage over the Wildcats. Cuba was outplayed from tip-off and was held scoreless in a 22-0 first quarter. The Wildcats played their best in the second quarter where the score of the quarter was 15-14 heading into the final seconds of the half. Unfortunately for Cuba, West Memphis guard Tyler Smith hit a half-court shot at the buzzer to stifle any good feelings the Wildcats had going into halftime. Cuba scored just four in the third quarter and two in the fourth quarter to take a 67-20 loss. Gipson made all eight of his free throw attempts to lead the Wildcats with eight points. Brown scored five, Noltkamper drained a three-pointer and Seth Adderly and Layten Eikermann each scored two.

The Wildcats will play in the FCNB Bank-IT Championship Tournament in Sullivan, which began on Dec. 2, in a matchup against Salem. The start of the tournament was postponed a day due to the snowstorm in the area. Cuba is seeded sixth and will compete on Dec. 3 and Dec. 5 in the tournament, with opponents and times TBD on the result of their game against Salem.