By DONN ADAMSON\Daily Journal Sports Editor

Published: Sunday, February 27, 2005
Updated: Saturday, February 26, 2005 11:42 PM CST

PARK HILLS - The Cardinals basketball team put the frosting on Mineral Area's day of festivities with a 58-54 win over the State Fair Roadrunners on Saturday. Mineral Area feted State Fair's Bill Martin for his long-time coaching of the Roadrunners.

Martin was presented a special gift from the Cardinals, but he probably would have preferred leaving with a win. The Cardinals prevented that from happening by escaping in the final seconds with the 'W'.

State Fair opened the game up by taking the tip all the way to the hoop, but they missed the easy shot, and Mineral Area made them pay as Ryan Byrne hit a three to start the scoring. It would be the first of four three-pointers for Byrne as he led the game in scoring with 18 points.

A couple minutes later, Aaron Jackson entered the game and scored a quick five points to give the Cardinals an 8-2 edge. The Cardinals would get more chances to score than the Roadrunners in the first half as they took advantage of State Fair's turnovers to keep the ball on their end of the court.

As the half progressed, State Fair made a game of it as they stayed just in reach of the Cardinals, closing out the 31-26 first half with a couple of threes that made it just a five-point game after MAC had led by as many as nine.

Scoring was at a premium in the entire game as the defenses of both teams were stingy about giving up points. With 12:40 left in the game, State Fair closed to within two points at 41-39, and MAC coach Corey Tate called time to readjust his offense. The next minute gained the Roadrunners only one point, but it was one more than the Cardinals.

This time it was the Roadrunners who called for time. Curtis Muse jammed one home for the Cardinals, but State Fair's Antwon Harris made his own exclamation mark at the other end.

Mineral Area Turnovers began to be a problem for the home team. State Fair took advantage of two turnovers to take the lead, 44-43 with 10:15 left on the clock. Muse regained the lead for the Cardinals when he made four straight free throws to make the score 49-48 with 6:26 left.

State Fair made only their second turnover of the half to help the Cardinals go up by three, but a three-pointer by Charles Love tied the game at 51-51. MAC again would go up by three points, but again State Fair would tie things up with a three-pointer.

Mineral Area called time with the score 54-54 to set up an offensive play, but the shot missed. The defensive play of the game came when at the top of the circle, Terry Britton literally tore the ball out of the hands of the Roadrunner ballhandler, and fed a fleeting teammate for the breakaway. The attempted jam missed, but Muse backed up the play for the tip-in.

State Fair took a time-out with 21.8 seconds left in the game, and again at 14.6 after failing to get a clean shot off. State Fair missed their chance to tie, and Dantwan Chillers claimed the rebound and was immediately fouled.

Chillers put the game on ice as he made both free throws, leaving State Fair with 7.8 seconds and a four-point deficit. The Cardinals were 17-20 from the free-throw line.

Mineral Area is now 21-9 and will play next against Three Rivers at Rolla on Saturday.

State Fair 26 28 - 54

Mineral Area 31 27 - 58

State Fair - C Love 10, G Fonzie 9, D Butterfield 8, B Perkins 6, E Hutson 6, T Curry 4, A Harris 4, T Cleaves 4, S Williams 3.

3-Pointers - G Fonzie 3, C Love 2, B Perkins 1, S Williams 1.

Mineral Area - R Byrne 18, A Jackson 9, C Muse 8, T Wilkerson 6, T Britton 6, K Burke 5, J Jackson 4, D Chillers 2.

3-Pointers - R Byrne 4, A Jackson 1.