Inclement weather had its effect on folks brave enough to go out into it.
Whether the chill had an effect on the basketball players inside Cardinal High Wednesday night as the Huskies hosted the Pymatuning Valley Lakers was not clear.
Coming off an emotional contest Saturday with neighbor Berkshire, which saw the Huskies take an early lead, then fall apart and come up short in Burton, the boys of coach Jon Cummins again got off to a fast start.
This time, they expanded the early lead into a big lead midway through the third period before hanging on for dear life to nip the Lakers on a pair of free throws by Robbie Muhl with 11.7 seconds left for a thrilling 65-64 non-conference win.
The Huskies saw a 53-32 lead midway through the third quarter disappear into a 64-63 deficit with 19.9 seconds to play. Jared Freeman hit the second of two free shots after hitting both ends of a one-and-one opportunity with 1:32 to play to knot the score. Then the Huskies flew down the court but couldn’t get off a good shot.
Both teams played at a frenetic pace most of the night, resulting in 50 combined turnovers. PV (5-6 overall) turned the ball over again, and the Huskies got a timeout with 14.3 ticks left. Muhl was fouled on an attempted steal in front of the scorer’s table with 11.7 left, and nailed both ends of the one-and-one situation to regain the lead for the final time.
Asked his thoughts in seeing that big lead evaporate, Cardinal coach Jon Cummins could only smile and take a deep breath.
“I was really nervous there at the end,” he said. “They ran a 1-2-2 press on us, and we turned the ball over more than I would want us to. Their guys were in the right place at the right time and got back into the game. I try to preach to our kids to break the press and then run our offense, but we got hesitant at times and they made us pay for it. It didn’t help, either, having Andrew Miller foul out in the fourth period. He’s our big inside presence, and without him we may have panicked a little, too.”
In opening a 21-12 lead after one quarter, Cardinal rode the 16-point effort in that period of Craig Kaser, who led his team with 23 points on the night and six assists.
Cardinal hit 44.8 percent from the floor. Miller hit all three shots he took in the first half, but with PV pounding the ball inside to post Morgan Babic, who had a big night with 26 points and 12 rebounds but was limited and fouled out midway through the fourth period.
“I was disappointed at fouling out,” Miller said. “We just need to keep working harder. We should not come close to losing after having a 21-point lead like we did. We let them get the lead, but we never gave up and pushed it a little more at the very end. I’m glad we won.”
Miller finished with 10 points and eight rebounds, and Cody Naftzger matched his rebound totals, but Cardinal was beaten on the boards by a 40-25 count; PV was horrendous in the first two plus periods, but got numerous second and third chances they could not convert.
Add in 18 of 26 total turnovers in the first half, and it’s easy to see why they were down 39-26 at the half.
“I have to say our kids never did quit at any time tonight,” coach Ryan Shontz said. “At the same time, I don’t think our kids played very hard in the first half. Our concentration was not good, we missed too many chances to score by turning the ball over, and we had no answer in stopping the number five (Kaser).”
Cardinal held a 56-38 lead after three periods, but you could see PV turning it up a notch, and the Huskies starting to think more before acting. That is not a good recipe for winning games.
“I’m so glad we won tonight,” Cummins said. “We’ve had an up and down season so far, but it’s good to be in close games like this to learn more about ourselves and how to play in close games. Credit PV, too, for not giving up after being down by 21 points. They are a good team, similar to us, in trying to just put things together.”
Babic paced their attack with 12 of 19 from the floor for his 26 points. He hit six of eight in the second half to support Freeman. To spark the comeback, he erupted for 16 of his 19 points in the second half, aided by Dalton Morgan, the point guard who tallied seven of his nine points in the second half as well.
Kaser paced the Huskies to the win with 23 points, and sophomore guard Luke Timas added 13.
The experience of getting a big lead, seeing it leave the building for a moment, then making a play to get the win must be a good learning experience for Huskies sophomores who played and contributed. Besides Timas, sophomores Muhl, Parker Kosh and Hayden Cummins made contributions to the win. Muhl’s moment was the best in his career to this point.
We’ll see how much they learned when they travel to Hawken on Friday night.