Tuesday (Jan. 31) night’s game was another win just beyond the Wildcats’ (8-14,1-7) reach. The game was a familiar story, with a familiar ending for the Wildcats.

“We had them right where we wanted them, but we just couldn’t finish,” said junior forward Alex Rice.

The Wildcats hosted the current 7A West leaders, the Fort Smith Southside Rebels (19-3,8-0).

Again, the Wildcats played right along with the fast-pace Rebels for the first half. Har-Ber trailed by as many as as 10 points in the first half, but they closed the gap to four points by halftime.

After acquiring their first conference win, Har-Ber thought they’d have enough momentum to push past the Rebels in the second half.

The Rebels started to slowly started to pull away from the Wildcats in the third quarter, outscoring Har-Ber 12-18.

After trailing by as many as 13 points, the Wildcats cut the lead down to six points with 1:23 left. But Southside sparked a last minute run to seal the fate for the Wildcats. The final score was 52-63.

Senior Jacob Berry, again, led the Wildcats offensively with 15 points.

The big story for Har-Ber was Rice who led the Wildcats’ defense with seven blocks. Rice also added 11 points.

The Wildcats are now preparing to face their cross-town rivals, Springdale Bulldogs (14-7,5-3), on Friday (Feb. 3).