Pilots battle Eagles to very end; lose 81-73

The Cairo Pilots battled the undefeated and state ranked Eldorado Eagles to the very end on Friday night before falling 81-73. The Eagles entered the game with a record of 17-0, ranked fourth in Illinois Class 2A by the Associated Press and as the top ranked team in southern Illinois regardless of class by the Gatehouse Media Group.
Cairo scored the first five points of the game but the Eagles answered with by scoring seven straight, giving Eldorado a 7-5 lead just two-and-a-half minutes into the game. Cairo would not regain the lead although they did force several tie scores through the first quarter and the first minute of the second quarter.
CairoÕs Arthur Williams fouled EldoradoÕs star sophomore, Cody Lane, at the 4:13 mark of the first quarter and the game tied at nine. Lane sank the first free throw but missed the second. Eagle Isiah Cunningham, who finished with a game high 28 points, grabbed the offensive rebound off the missed free throw and scored to give Eldorado their largest lead of the first quarter at 12-9.
Rodney Woodson, part of CairoÕs trio of super sophomores, quickly drained a trey, the first of his four three point shots on the night. Woodson led Cairo with 22 points.
Eldorado held a slim lead, 21-19, at the end of the first quarter with Woodson accounting for ten of CairoÕs points.
Freshman Herschel Graham found another Cairo sophomore, Lee Wright, under the basket for two points to open the second with another tie at 21. Wright scored a career high 17 points on the night after dominating the Junior Varsity game with 25.
Eldorado took the lead for good when Alex Parker hit one of two free throws less than twenty seconds after WrightÕs tying bucket. Cody Lane, the son of former Eldorado Eagle star forward Eddie Lane, hit another bucket to stretch the lead to three.
Graham cut the lead to one before Cunningham scored five consecutive points, stretching the Eldorado lead to six points. Another three pointer by Woodson cut the lead to three but that was as close as the Pilots would get for the rest of the game.
Isiah Cunningham, who led the Eagles in rebounding with five, scored four consecutive points after grabbing offensive rebounds with about five minutes remaining in the game. Eldorado enjoyed their largest lead of the game, 75-60, at that point. The Eagles did not score another field goal in the game, going 6-8 from the line in the final three minutes of the game.
All of the scoring for Eldorado came from the five starters, four in double figures, led by Cunningham with 28. Jordon Williams, a 6Õ6Ó senior, scored 18 points, several on strong baseline drives through the Pilot defense. Lane added 16 and Alex Parker ten. Dallas Robinson, the MVP of the Eldorado Holiday Tournament, barely missed double digits with nine.
Cairo was led by the trio of sophomores: Woodson with 22, Wright with 17 and Arthur Williams with 15. Williams grabbed a game high 11 rebounds.
Cairo Ð Rodney Woodson 5 (4) 0-2 22, Lee Wright 7 3-5 17, Arthur Williams 7 1-3 15, Danny Brown 0 (2) 0-0 6, Marquis Lemmon 1 (1) 0-0 5, Kenny Tucker 2 0-0 4, Herschel Graham 2 0-0 4. TOTALS: 24 (7) 4-10 73.
Eldorado Ð Cunningham 11 (1) 3-3 28, Williams 8 2-5 18, Lane 5 (1) 3-5 16, Parker 3 4-6 10, Robinson 3 3-5 9. TOTALS 30 (2) 15-24 81.
Fouled out Ð Parker. Technicals Ð none.
Eldorado improved their record to a gaudy 18-0, 5-0 in the East Division of the Black Diamond Conference. Cairo fell to 3-8, 3-2 in the conference.
The Junior Varsity Pilots withstood a furious Eldorado rally to win 78-75. The JV Pilots held a commanding 58-38 lead entering the final quarter but saw the JV Eagles nearly match their point total for the first three quarters by scoring 37 in the final frame.
A total of 52 fouls were called in the JV game (26 on each team) and 64 free throws were shot.
Lee Wright led the JV Pilots with 25 points, Jamar Hill scored 16 and Herschel Graham added 14.
Eldorado lost their first game of the season in their very next outing, falling to Anna-Jonesboro 46-40 at the West Frankfort Mid-Winter Classic.
The Pilots play in the Benton Invitational Tournament this week, falling to Benton on Monday, 73-61. The tournament continues with Cairo facing Hamilton County on Wednesday, Carlyle on Friday, Pinckneyville on Saturday morning and Okawville on Saturday evening.