Prior to the Wildcats Basketball Team’s always big game with rival Mount Pleasant, Coach Clark Cipoletta had a talk with his team about regaining their pride. The Wildcats entered Tuesday night’s home game 0-1 in district play after a stunning loss to Greenville Friday night. Coach Cipoletta told his players Greenville had taken their pride from them and they had to earn it back. Consider mission accomplished as the Wildcats took a 72-54 win over the Tigers. Coach Cipoletta said the Wildcats attitude, focus and sense of urgency was different than it was against Greenville. He had said the Mount Pleasant game would be a good test for the Wildcats’ leadership after the district loss. He said his four seniors lead the way by controlling their emotions and keeping from being too high or too low during the game. Coach Cipoletta however got the biggest game from a junior, point guard Lamodrick Johnson. Johnson drove to the basket time after time scoring 26 points. Coach Cip calls Johnson a one-person press breaker. He said LJ is hard to pressure and one who sees what most other players don’t. Coach Cipoletta said the Wildcats’ rebounding was much improved against Mount Pleasant. He said he could recall only about two missed block outs against the Tigers. He said there were 56 against Greenville. Coach Cipoletta said the Wildcats attention to little things resulted in big things. Next for the Wildcats is Texas High in Texarkana on Friday.
