Cardinals take region loss at West Plains

By MATT KING AND DONN ADAMSON\Daily Journal Sports Writers

WEST PLAINS - The Mineral Area College men's basketball team saw its four-game win streak come to an end on Tuesday night. In a place where they have historically struggled to win, the Cardinals slipped to 2-3 in Region XVI play with an 80-68 loss at West Plains.

MAC (17-8) played the contest without the services of freshman shooting guard Kenny Burke due to the flu, and hit just 4-16 three-pointers as a club. Ryan Byrne drained three triples on the night and scored 15 points.

Jonathan Jackson delivered his most productive outing since joining the team at the start of the semester, leading the Cardinals with 17 points. Aaron Jackson chipped in a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds. The Cardinals grabbed an impressive 16 offensive rebounds as a team.

After trailing 36-28 at halftime, Mineral Area had possession of the ball with the margin cut to six late in the second half, but a crucial turnover led to a clutch jumper by Andrias Thornton which helped the Grizzlies pull away.

Thornton led all players with 26 points, and also added 10 rebounds, while Ontario McKee scored 15 points for West Plains.

The Grizzlies (15-11) were busy at the free-throw line, making 22-31 attempts. MAC finished 10-15 at the charity stripe.

West Plains moved into a tie with Mineral Area and State Fair for third place in the region standings behind Moberly (4-1) and Three Rivers (3-3).

The Cardinals will look to avenge an earlier loss at home when they travel to Moberly on Saturday.

Mineral Area - 28 40 - 68

West Plains - 36 44 - 80

SCORING:

Mineral Area - J Jackson 17, R Byrne 15, A Jackson 12, C Muse 8, T Wilkerson 7, D Hicks 5, T Britton 2, D Chillers 2.

3-pointers - R Byrne 3, J Jackson 1.

West Plains - A Thornton 26, O McKee 15, J Watson 12, T Brazelton 10, L Ecford 9, C Dunbar 6, D Naranich 2.

3-pointers - O McKee 2.

Crowder 73, Lady Cardinals 56

NEOSHO - The Mineral Area Lady Cardinals again put their injury-ridden team on the court on Tuesday in a game with the Crowder 'Riders and came out on the back end of a 73-56 score.

"We were able to draw to within 10 points in the fourth quarter, but no closer," said MAC coach Lana LaBruyere. "We played with them (Crowder) for the first half, but got into foul trouble, and our shooting went cold in the second half."

Mineral Area only trailed by three, 27-24, at the half, before Crowder took over the pace and the scoring of the second half.

Anna Brisso led all scorers with 24 points and hitting three three-pointers. Sarah Deitiker also had three threes to balloon her points to 13. Robin Sane scored 12 points, all in the second half. Alycea Wallace had four points in the game, and Melissa Pollard finished off the points with three.