Cards win back-to-back district games

The Columbus Cardinals basketball team improved to 5-2 in district play after they won backto- back district games last week.

The Cards defeated both the Edna Cowboys, 68-53, and the Industrial Cobras, 57-47, for their fourth and fifth district win of the year.

@ Edna, W, 68-53 The Cards started the week on the road in a hostile environment as Edna’s fans made it a difficult place to play on Tuesday night. On top of that the Cards eliminated the Cowboys in the Semi-Final round of the football playoffs, so they were looking to avenge that win.

The Cards came out firing though on offense and jumped out to a 19-4 lead in the first quarter. They scored 19 more points in the second quarter, but the Cowboys matched that point total in the second and the score sat at 32-23 (which is a fun palindrome for the fans in attendance).

The Cowboys outscored the Cards in the third quarter 26-24 but sti ll trailed going into the fourth, 56-49. The Cards then shut down the Cowboys’ offense in the fourth quarter and allowed only four points against while the offense tacked on 12 more points to their lead.

Grayson Rigdon led the way in scoring for the Cards with 21 points and 11 rebounds with Camdon Pitchford behind him with 14 points and three rebounds. Rigdon was not the only Cardinal to record a double-double on Tuesday night with Brody Tribe recorded 12 points and 14 rebounds.

The Cards were flying high, but they knew a second district game looming in the distance and quickly shifted their focus.

Vs. Industrial, W, 57-47 Being back on home court the Cards knew this game was going to have a big impact on the district standings and they wanted to be on the winning side of things.

Like the Edna game, the Cards jumped out to an early lead in the first quarter as they outscored Industrial 18-14. The second quarter was not as fruitful for the Cards though as they only scored four points while Industrial added 10 to their point total.

The bad news was the Cards trailed at halftime, the good news was they were only down by two points as the score sat at 24-22, so they still had a chance.

Both teams scored 10 points in the third quarter giving us a 34-32 ball game going into the final quarter. The Cards offense exploded for 25 points in the fourth quarter while the defense limited Industrial to only 13 as they marched to a victory.

The Cards picked up two huge district wins to give themselves a little bit of cushion in the standings but will look to climb the standings even more by winning their next game against Tidehaven.