Cardinals Finishing The Season Strong

Last week the Cardinals picked up two more conference wins.  Against a tough Wendell team Soda Springs won in dramatic fashion before turning around and blowing out a streaky Malad team.

On Wednesday the Cardinals played host to the Wendell Trojans.  The two teams appeared to be very evenly matched.  Both teams have good shooters and quick guard play combined with some solid size and strength under the basket.  The Cardinals grabbed a slim lead early on led mostly by their post play from Billman and McWilliams.  The two Cardinal bigs combined for nine of Soda Springs fourteen first quarter points.  The Trojans hit some big outside shots late in the quarter and Wendell would take a two points lead at the end of one.  In the second period after tying the game at eighteen points a piece both teams would go several possessions with no results.  The Trojans finally broke the tie and proceeded to go on a seven to zero run getting some breathing room at the halftime break.  Soda Springs entered the second half with a flurry of scoring.  The Cardinals roared back to briefly take the lead.  It would not last though.  Several turnovers by Soda Springs allowed Wendell to regain control of the game.  As the third quarter came to a close the Cardinals once again found themselves trailing by five.  Wendell held the lead for most of the fourth quarter.  Several miscues by the Trojans combined with some great hustle play by the Cardinals gave Soda Springs the lead with around one and a half minutes left in the game.  With the lead and the ball Soda Springs attempted to work some clock by running the shot clock down before taking a shot.  Unfortunately the shot missed and Wendell got the rebound.  The Trojans ran the clock down to just ten seconds left when they were fouled, sending one of the Trojans to the foul line.  Wendell trailing by one could regain the lead with two made foul shots.  As fate would have it the Trojan shooter only make one out of two and the game was tied up once again.  Soda Springs called a timeout with just eight and a half seconds left.  Most in attendance assumed that the last shot would go to the team’s leading scorer Cooper Thompson.  At this point of the game six of the Cardinals eight main players had scored.  As the ball was inbounded like many suspected it was in Thompson’s hands but instead of taking a shot Thompson found Ozburn who took a three point shot in the final seconds.  Just like that the shot ripped through the net giving Ozburn his first points of the game and the Cardinals a three point lead.  The officials conferred and had the clock reset at one second.  The last ditch desperation shot by the Trojans missed and the Cardinals walked away with the win.

Following the close win at home the Cardinals traveled to Malad on Friday to take on a Dragon team that has both won some big games and lost some games they should not have.  The Cardinals had just sneaked by the Dragons two weeks prior, winning by five at the Bird Nest.  As this game got rolling the Dragons took control early jumping out to a ten to four lead.  The Cardinals bounced back and closed the gap to just a single point as quarter number one came to a close.  The early part of the second period saw the game remain close.  As the quarter moved on the Cardinals began to pull away, helped in large part by four three point shots made by Thompson.  The second half wasn’t much of a game.  The Dragons completely imploded as the Cardinals were able to hold Malad to just six second half points.  The Cardinals rolled to a big win in this game blowing out the Dragons by thirty three points.

The Cardinals finished their regular season on Tuesday when they hosted Aberdeen for senior night.  Check next week’s article to see how that game and the first round of the district tournament went for the Cardinals.  That first district tournament game is scheduled to be in Soda Springs on Saturday night.

Cardinals 14 8 16 13 51

Trojans 16 13 14 5 48

K.Kirby 8, C.Jacobson 5, C.Thompson 10, G.Hansen 4, K.McWilliams 11, P.Ozburn 3, D.Billman 10

Cardinals 11 24 21 4 60

Dragons 12 9 4 2 27

K.Kirby 5, C.Jacobson 8, C.Thompson 20, G.Hansen 12, K.McWilliams 8, D.Stoor 2, P.Ozburn 3, D.Billman 2