MEDICAL LAKE — Two things about the Cardinal boys basketball team: they can take time to warm up and they like to keep spectators in suspense right up to the last second — literally.
Such was the case in yet another clutch, 51-50 win in Friday’s home game against Freeman (3-2, 9-4).
The team was coming off an upset 65-52 loss against Newport on Tuesday, Jan. 14, and the bad taste must have lingered as the start against the Scotties wasn’t a pretty one as the Cardinals allowed the Scotties to dominate in the first two quarters to go into halftime as 13-point underdogs.
“It was just bad,” head coach Jordan Starr said of the first half after the game. “(The Scotties) played great defense. We couldn’t get in driving lanes, we couldn’t get rotations, we weren’t setting screens — but I knew it’d loosen up eventually.”
It wasn’t the first time the Cardinals had been trailing at the half, which Starr reminded his team in the locker room.
“I told them we were down at Liberty by 20,” he said of the first of the team’s two loses earlier in the season, which they went on to lose by only three points. “Just be ready for the comeback. And when we do come back we’re going to attack and we’re going to finish.”
The team took it to heart — but it took awhile.
It was halfway through the third quarter and a 14-point spread before The Cards began working on that comeback, and by the beginning of the fourth they had narrowed the Scotties lead to eight points.
Then, with their comeback well in-hand, and to chants of “D-up! D-up!” by the bench and the student section, the defense finally kicked in, while the offense began a methodical attack on the Scotties basket, taking the lead for the first time with 1 minute, 27 seconds remaining in the game.
Then, with 30-seconds left, the Scotties scored a 2-pointer and a free throw to retake the lead by two.
Then the ball was passed to Cardinal shooter Jordan Petersen in the left corner.
“With two seconds left, I’m taking the three. I got this,” Petersen said, describing the moment after the game.
And he did, but when the ball left his hands it didn’t feel good, he said. But it was good enough, and he sank the clutch 3-pointer for the last second win to the roar of the assembled hometown crowd.
“They were all ready for the comeback and were able to pull it off,” a visibly happy Starr said of the team’s win.
The Cardinals advance to 4-1 in the Northeast A League and 11-2 overall, dropping to second-place in the NEA after their loss to Newport and their win over Cheney in the annual Spirit Game last Saturday.
They now trail undefeated Deer Park (5-0, 10-2) in the NEA, who the Cards have yet to face after two weather-related game postponements. The two top NEA teams are currently scheduled to duke it out on Jan. 31.
They were scheduled to face Lakeside (2-4, 5-9) at home on Tuesday, before hosting Colville (1-4, 5-9) tomorrow night, Jan. 24, followed by a home game against Riverside on Saturday. All games are a 7:15 p.m. tip-off.
Then they get a weeklong break before they finally face Deer Park on Friday, Jan. 31, for what will likely be the game of the season that decides who enters the post-season as the NEA No. 1 seed.
And while the Cardinals may now be second in the NEA to Deer Park, as of press time Tuesday they remain third in the state 1A WIAA RPI rankings. Deer Park is sixth.
Lee Hughes can be reached at [email protected].
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