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The Columbus Cardinals continue to roll in their district schedule after defeating the Palacios Sharks on the road on Friday, Jan. 12.
The Cardinals walked away with a 51-26 win over the Sharks, and the score reflects just how dominate they were.
The Cardinals started the game almost playing opossum, letting Palacios play fast and aggressive in the first half. Palacios was flying around the court, swatting balls away on the defensive end and moving the ball and scoring with ease it seemed on the offensive end.
As effective as the Sharks were on both ends of the floor, the Cardinals never lost the lead in the game. While Palacios was effective and efficient on both ends, the Cardinals played calm, cool and collected running their systems perfectly to maintain an edge on the Sharks.
The Sharks kept things close for most of the first half, but the turning point came after the Sharks chased down Cedric Fitzgerald to block his shot. The Sharks then celebrated in front of Fitzgerald’s face, flipping a switch for the Cardinals.
After the celebration Fitzgerald went to the free throw line and scored both his free throws. The Cardinals defense kept everything to the perimeter and forced the Sharks to shoot heavily contested shots.
The Cardinals secured the rebounds with ease and pushed back up the floor, taking complete control of the pace of the game. Slowing things down benefited the Cardinals because they knew the Sharks wanted to play fast.
After slowing things down right before the half, the Cardinals were able to establish a large 28-15 lead. With a half of basketball left to play, the Cardinals were ready to put their foot on the gas and drive home with a W in their back pocket.
The Cardinals defense again stole the show in the second half and were led by Jayden Trapp. Trapp was huge for the Cardinals in the second half, especially for rebounding.
Trapp used his large frame to secure the ball then get it to a teammate in an open area for them to run down and score on offense. Trapp did not work alone as the Cardinal guards put in overtime on defense and harassed any ball carrier the Sharks had, forcing them into bad shots and turnovers.
This defense led to the Cardinals limiting the Sharks to only 11 points in the second half while scoring 23 of their own to secure a 51-26 win.
With another district win in their pocket the Cardinals look ahead to their matchup against Edna on Wednesday, Jan. 17, once again on the road before coming back to take on the Rice Raiders on Friday, Jan. 19, on their home court.
