The Cardington-Lincoln boys’ basketball team (5-1, 3-0) bounced back with a 63-43 win over KMAC rival Danville (1-7, 0-3) on Dec. 22, making it five wins in six games to start the season for the Pirates.
It was a tight start to the game with Cardington-Lincoln taking a 16-13 lead after one quarter. Warren Garrison was hot early with seven points to lead the charge. Clayton Vance led all scorers with eight points in the opening frame.
The Pirates extended the lead to 35-24 after outscoring the Blue Devils 19-11 in the second quarter. AJ Hall and AJ Brehm were on point with seven and six points respectively. The Blue Devils got five points out of Ashton Spaulding, who had a three in the quarter.
It was all Pirates in the third quarter with a 19-12 advantage to take a 54-36 lead. Wesley Payne had eight points for the Blue Devils and Journey Williamson put up seven for the Pirates. Cardington-Lincoln was able to hold on for a 20 point win with a 9-7 fourth quarter.
Garrison put up 14 points to lead the way for the Pirates. Three other players also hit double figures with Williamson scoring 11 points, Brehm scoring 12 points and Hall scoring 11 points. The Blue Devils were led by Payne with 13 points. Walker Weckesser also had double digit scoring numbers with 12 points, while Vance scored eight points that all came in the first quarter.
The win came after a tough 61-57 loss to Crawford where the Pirates let the game slip away in the fourth quarter. Coach Jason Rice said the team needs to work to finish games.
“Also we need to continue to be better at finishing possessions with being disciplined without gambling and getting defensive rebounds instead of second chances,” Rice said.
Rice said thus far the best win of the year came against a solid Fredericktown squad. He was happy about how they extended a one point lead to 23 points by excelling on both sides of the ball.
Rice feels good about the team’s overall play in the early stages.
“All our players have gone above and beyond from last year and we have done a great job of winning and playing together as a team,” Rice said.
The win kept the Pirates perfect in KMAC play to lead the conference.
Pleasant 60, Cardington-Lincoln 46
On Dec. 27 the Pirates couldn’t contain Trey Booker, who had 36 points to lead the Pleasant Spartans (6-4, 2-3) to a 60-46 win over Cardington-Lincoln.
The Pirates had a 16-15 lead to start the game with Garrison putting up seven points in the first quarter including a three. Merek McClure also hit a three. Booker had 10 points for the Spartans.
The Spartans took a 27-24 halftime lead, led by Booker’s eight points, giving him 18 at halftime. Brehm had four points in the second quarter and six in the half. Garrison led all Pirates with seven points.
In the third quarter the Spartans outscored the Pirates 14-11, and 19-11 in the final frame. Booker had seven points in the third and 11 points in the fourth quarter. He made all 12 of his free throws in the game.
