Cardington battles back

Cardington battled back against Highland after trailing the entire first half to earn a home 64-46 decision in the non-league contest on Saturday.

The Scots controlled the game in the early going, using out to a 10-1 lead behind three-pointers by Kadyn Reichenbach and Toby Rogers. While the Pirates were able to get five straight points from Kalin Briggs, Highland finished the period with buckets from Ranger Steck and Owen Winkelfoos to lead 14-6 after eight minutes.

Cardington would be able to chip into the Scot lead in the second quarter. Trailing 24-17 with less than two minutes until the half, the Pirates got a basket off an offensive rebound from Brayden Lackey followed by a Warren Garrison three-pointer to close within two points. However, Highland would get a buzzer-beating three-pointer from Jakai Wilson to lead by five going into the intermission.

Pirate head coach Jason Rice didn’t mince words when it came to his opinion of his team’s first-half showing.

“The first half, I told them in the locker room that might be the worst half I’ve seen them play in a very long time, if not ever,” he said. “We just couldn’t get anything going. There was a lot of selfish play, a lack of discipline on both sides of the ball. We had guys trying to leak out in transition, not getting defensive rebounds. There was kind of no heart in them.”

However, the team was able to correct those issues during the break.

“Halftime, there was a pretty good talk,” he continued. “A lot of the kids spoke up and talked, a lot of coaches came up and talked. Second half, we came out and got back to the Cardington basketball that we want to play with — up and down and defensive pressure. We got out of trying to reach for every single thing on the ball and off the ball and were just disciplined on both sides.”

On the other side, after playing a strong first half, the Scots found things to be a struggle in the second half. Cardington opened the third quarter with a free throw and basket from Journey Williamson and a three-pointer by A.J. Hall. Aron West would tie the game at 28 with a basket at the 4:52 mark, but back-to-back shots by Hall and Briggs would give Cardington the lead again and, this time, they would not surrender it.

“Give credit to Cardington,” said Highland coach Ryan Stover. “They stepped up their defense; they dictated how we wanted to run our offense. We took a few ill-advised shots, but give them credit — they stepped up in the second half. We’ve been a team all year just trying to find shots to go in and in the second half, we didn’t find anything to go in.”

Stover added that with a young team lacking in overall varsity experience, it’s been tough to put together a full four-quarter effort.

“Thursday night against River Valley, we had a really good second half, but didn’t have a good first half,” he said. “Tonight, we have a good first half; we didn’t have a good second half. We have a lot of youth we’re playing. We’re playing a lot of guys, trying to find a mix to see what we can field. Once we can figure out how to put together four quarters, we’ll be alright.”

Cardington would open up a double-digit lead by the end of the third quarter thanks to some hot outside shooting. Garrison connected three times from deep and Hall added a pair of three-pointers, as the Pirates increased their lead to a 47-34 score going into the fourth.

Five points from Lackey and four from Isaiah Ward helped push the Cardington advantage to a 58-37 score and Highland would not be able to cut their deficit to fewer than 18 over the final four minutes of the game.

The Pirates had balanced scoring in the win. Both Hall and Garrison scored 15 points, while Lackey and A.J. Brehm both tallied eight. Highland’s Rogers scored a game-high 18.

Stover said that his team is improving — it’s just a matter of gaining experience and putting the pieces together.

“We continue to get better every game,” he said. “Our schedule is brutal. We have a very tough schedule. We don’t have those experienced guys at the varsity level. We’re trying to get guys in and hopefully one day, everything clicks.”

Rice was happy his team had a strong second half. After losing to Pleasant earlier in the week, he didn’t want that one loss to turn into multiple in a row.

“Last year, one loss would become two, three, four,” he said. “I told the boys, ‘way to respond’. It didn’t take us three days of practice, it took us, really, a 10-minute halftime to really come out and give it what we got and what we’ve done all off-season.”

Rob Hamilton can be reached at 419-946-3010, ext. 1807. Connect with him on Twitter at @SportsMCS