Cardinal used a fourth quarter-run to separate themselves from a scrappy Ledgemont squad last weekend at Cardinal High School.
The Huskies outscored the Redskins 24-4 in the fourth quarter to take the 76-47 season opening victory.
The Redskins closed the gap in the third quarter by outscoring the Huskies 18-13, which made the score 52-43 going into the fourth quarter. But that was as close as the Redskins would get.
Cardinal led from start to finish, propelled by a 22-9 first quarter.
Senior captain Jake Bosak, who hit three 3-pointers in the first quarter, was the catalyst behind the fast start. Bosak finished with 16 points.
“He can play inside and out,” head coach Jon Cummins said of Bosak. “He is our best shooter on the team. When push comes to shove, when we had guys get in foul trouble, he played the five spot. And when we have those guys back in he plays the two-spot. He definitely helped keep us in the game in the first half.”
The Huskies took a 39-25 lead into halftime, despite not having 6-foot-7 senior Jake DiBlasio, who had three quick fouls early. DiBlasio sat the entire second quarter.
DiBlasio is the lone returning starter from last season. He was first-team CVC last season, while averaging 14 points, nine rebounds and four block shots per game. He will be the main cog inside this season for the Huskies.
DiBlasio wanted “to prove to my team that I didn’t play like I normally should, so I wanted to come out and make as many smart moves as I could and help the team. Everyone played really well in the second half, I think we had some pregame jitters that got us in the beginning.”
After scoring only four points in the first half, DiBlasio made the most of his minutes in the second half. He scored 15 points, including nine fourth-quarter points and went on his own personal 6-0 run at the start of the fourth quarter.
“I’m happy with our progress,” he said. “We still have some way to go, but once we pull it all together we should be a pretty decent team this year.”
The Huskies were also led by senior captain Justin McClain and sophomore Jake Francis. Each had 10 points.
Cardinal coach Jon Cummins said, “It was a little rough; we’re feeling each other out. We have guys that are playing different spots, guys playing together in a game situation. We try to get used to our personnel but we got in early foul trouble. We got put into some situations you’re not used to doing. I was happy to a certain extent, but we have a long ways to go.”
Ledgemont, coming off a season where second half injuries led to a 7-16 overall record, was led by Devin Rupinski who scored 19 points.
Rupinski scored 11 points in the first half. The Redskins were also paced by senior Steve Conklin, who scored 13 points.
Rupinski and Conklin were the only two Redskins to score in double figures.
“A lot of people might think that’s a disappointing game,” said Ledgemont coach Greg Fronk. “But this is the first year we pushed the tempo. We’re obviously not a half-court team, and this was the first time were on the floor besides one scrimmage.”
The interesting angle behind the Redskins new up-tempo offense is the fact they only had nine players on the bench. This led to constant substitutions by the Redskins in order to keep fresh legs on both offense and defense.
“The end score was a result of getting tired in the fourth quarter,” Fronk said. “For me it was not a negative game. We played solid defense, crashed the boards and battled with them. We just slowed down in the fourth quarter.”
Ledgemont will be on the road Friday to open up play in the Northeastern Athletic Conference against Chalker.
While the Huskies will travel to Berkshire for a showdown Saturday with the Badgers. Tip-off is 6:30 for varsity.
The Berkshire-Cardinal game will also feature the Berkshire Athletic Hall of Fame inductions of the 2013 class.
The game and inductions will be taped by GeaugaTV. For replay dates and times visit geaugatv.org.
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