Cardinals Heating Up

After a pair of disappointing losses early in the month the Soda Springs Cardinals boys basketball team have ripped off five wins in a row.  Those wins included a pair of conference games last week against two very solid teams from the district.

Senior Elijah Dilworth controls his opponent in his match on senior night.

 As will sometimes happen when there are so many events taking place in one week we will occasionally miss seeing a game with our own eyes.  Such was the case when the Cardinals traveled to Malad last Wednesday to face the Dragons.  And while we may not have been able to watch the game we can give you a little insight into how important it was for the Cardinals to pick up that win on the road.  Prior to last week’s game Malad was 2-0 in the conference having picked up wins over Declo and Aberdeen.  Soda Springs on the other hand was sitting at 1-1 a game behind the Dragons with conference leaders Wendell and West Side still left to play.  The Cardinals absolutely could not afford to lose to the Dragons if they were holding out any hope for a first or second seed in the district tournament.  Over the past couple of years the Dragons have been a bit of a thorn in the side of the Cardinals.  Even though the Cardinals have survived most of those games they have been more of a challenge than expected in some cases.  Fortunately last week’s game in Malad fell in favor of the Cardinals as they were able to walk away with a nine point win.  

Following the win in Malad the Cardinals were on the road again this time at West Side.  Two weeks ago the Cardinals and Pirates met in Soda Springs where West Side jumped out to an early big lead to defeat the Cardinals on their home floor.  This time around the Cardinals were looking for revenge and they got the hot start.  The Cardinals were able to hit from both outside and drive to the hoop as they scored a staggering twenty-three first quarter points while holding the Pirates to just seven.  The Cardinals followed the big first quarter with a solid second quarter which helped them keep the lead but the Pirates did take a big chunk out of that lead, nearly cutting it to single digits.  Going into the third quarter the Cardinals held an eleven point lead.  The scoring slowed significantly for the majority of the third quarter but in the closing minutes of the third the Cardinals hit a flurry of shots extending the lead back to thirteen.  In the final quarter of the game the Pirates kept the pressure on as they cut the lead to single digits. With just over two minutes left in the game the Cardinal’s Cooper Thompson fouled out with Soda Springs clinging to just a seven point lead.  For many teams losing a player like Thompson in a crucial part of the game might spell disaster but the Cardinals still had the ball skills of Hansen and Ozburn and the hot hand of Horsley.  In addition to those three Caleb Hansen and Landon Martinsen stepped up hitting some end of game foul shots and Kaden Harrison came up with a big offensive rebound to help the Cardinal secure the ten point victory.  

Senior Ryker Hemmert faces off with his opponent from Marsh Valley on senior night.

The Cardinals will try to extend their winning streak with three games this week.  They faced Grace on Tuesday in a big county rivalry game then host the winless Tigers from Aberdeen on Thursday before rounding out the week at home with Declo on Saturday.

Cardinals 64

Dragons 55

Cardinals 23 15 14 15 67

Pirates 7 20 12 18 57

C. Thompson 15, G. Hansen 17, J. Horsley 22, P. Ozburn 3, M. Browning 4, L. Mellor 2, C. Hansen 2, L. Martinsen 2