12/16/2025
BY JACK BULLOCK
CAIRO - Tuesday night the Cairo Pilots looked like sure winners heading into the fourth quarter of their non-conference home contest against Anna-Jonesboro.

Outscoring the Wildcats in the middle two quarters to break away, Cairo led 67-48 heading into the final eight minutes and looked to coast home.

Then the unthinkable happened.

A rash of mistakes by the hosts combined with a barrage of made shots by the Wildcats carved into what everyone in attendance believed was an insurmountable advantage.

Coach Josh Baldwin's Pilots were in trouble late as A-J went on a 16-2 run in the first 4:23 of the final quarter.

The Wildcats forced seven fourth quarter turnovers and got to within one possession in the final seconds.

But the Pilots did just enough late in the game, hitting 5-of-6 free throws in the final 1:50 to stave off the A-J rally in a 78-73 victory.

Cairo improved its record to 5-4 on the season while Mike Chamness' 'Cats fell to 3-5.

The high scoring contest featured eight players in double-figures in scoring, five for Cairo and three for the Wildcats.

Six-six junior Kaleb Gore nailed down six 3-point shots and finished with 28-points to lead all of the scorers on Tuesday night for Anna-Jonesboro.

Senior guard Dawson Nicholas scored 17-points and senior Foster Needling added 11 as seven different A-J players put up points.

Five-ten sophomore Jakwon McAllister led the Pilots with 23-points followed by freshman Rahjon Woodson with 15.

Another freshman; 5-9 guard Anthony “Tim” Duncan, Jr. added 14 for Coach Baldwin while 5-9 guard Kymoni Dilworth scored 11.

Six-two junior Robert Oliver added 10 for Cairo, with most of these numbers coming in the first three quarters.

“We want to be disciplined but we also want to put pressure on teams and get to the rim,” said Coach Baldwin. “We got in the paint and we did a good job of that tonight.”

The two teams played very little defense in the first frame as the two squads combined to hit 20-of-31 shots in the opening eight minutes.

Gore came out hot, scoring 16 of his points, connecting four times from beyond the 3-point arc while McAllister scored 13, include a trio of long range shots.

The first quarter ended with Anna-Jonesboro leading 25-24.

“We were trying to be aggressive tonight but they came out and hit us early. Gore hit his first three or four shots so we had to continue to be agressive,” said Coach Baldwin.

It was the Pilots who found their defensive rhythm in the second quarter.

Anna-Jonesboro's five second quarter turnovers coupled with Cairo crashing the offensive boards (five rebounds) produced a 14-0 run to turn a 27-26 deficit into a 40-27 lead with 3:17 left in the half.

A-J connected on just 2-of-11 field goal attempts in the period and both Duncan and guard David Shaw, Jr. hit 3-pointers as Cairo took a 48-34 lead to halftime.

Duncan added six additional points in the third quarter and the Wildcats turned the ball over eight more times, including three in their first three possessions to open the second half.

All three turned into Cairo points with scores by Dilworth and Duncan (twice) forcing an Anna-Jonesboro timeout as the Pilots' lead reached 54-34.

Nicholas tried to keep his club in the game, scoring nine of his points during the third quarter, and Gore hit another long range shot and his basket in the lane got the Wildcats within 16.

A 3-pointer that beat the buzzer by Woodson sent the Pilots back to the bench between quarters in command by 19.

Against the Anna-Jonesboro full-court pressure, Cairo began the final quarter with three-straight mistakes that led directly to points for the Wildcats.

Gore hit his final 3-pointer and senior guard Zay Delacruz came off of the bench and hit a key shot in the run.

Buckets by Nicholas and Gore followed by a pair of free throws by Needling made it 67-59 with 4:02 left.

Senior guard Graydon Edmonds only netted four-points, but they were huge.

A 3-pointer from Edmonds with 1:15 left cut the Cairo lead to just 75-71 with 1:15 remaining.

After McAllister made 1-of-2 foul shots, another key A-J reserve; sophomore Landon Boyd, scored on a baseline drive as the Wildcats used a timeout down 76-73 with :26.2 on the clock.

Cairo broke the press and got another score inside from McAllister off of an assist from Dilworth put the game away with :12 left.

A subsequent Anna-Jonesboro turnover in the final seconds secured the Cairo win.

Unfortunately for A-J, they had too many late game mistakes (five turnovers in the fourth) as their comeback fell just short.

Cairo and Anna-Jonesboro both shot the ball well on Tuesday night.

The Pilots ended up 30-of-56 overall (53.5 percent) and 7-of-18 from the 3-point line while the Wildcats hit 25-of-54 (46.2 percent) and 7-of-20 from long distance.

While A-J won the rebounding battle (33-20) with 17 offensive rebounds, they lost the other key category.

The Wildcats finished with 23 turnovers, with 13 coming in the middle two quarters where they were outscored 43-23.

Despite their seven fourth quarter turnovers (13 total) the Pilots notched the win.

Cairo has two games coming up before the Christmas break.

The Pilots will travel to Fulton (MO.) on Friday night before hosting Benton on Saturday.

Anna-Jonesboro will head back to action at Benton on Friday and will welcome Massac County on Saturday.

The Wildcats are the number seven seed at the Eldorado Holiday Tournament that begins December 26th and will play the host Eagles in the opening round.

Cairo looks to defend its championship as the top team at the Cobden “Appleknocker” Holiday Tournament, also beginning the 26th.

“We're young. We had two freshmen and two sophomores out there and even our juniors are young (inexperienced) and haven't played a lot of varsity,” said Coach Baldwin. “Overall I was happy with our performance. We needed this win badly. This was our first home game, we don't have many. I told the kids that same lessons you can get with a loss you can also get with a win.”