Cardinals exact revenge and an undefeated record

By DONN ADAMSON\Daily Journal Sports Editor

PARK HILLS - The Mineral Area Cardinals last basketball loss was to Southwestern Illinois College in last year's District play-off game that ended their season. Since then the Cardinals have strung together five straight wins, the latest one on Tuesday over none other than the Southwest Illinois Blue Storm.

Mineral Area gained a 10-point advantage midway through the second half which helped them to a 79-77 win after a Blue Storm surge of three pointers late in the game.

The game looked to be a Cardinal runaway at the start as Mineral Area's defense gave the Blue Storm fits, forcing two straight turnovers by the visitors and converting them into points. MAC's defense would set the tone in the first half of play as SW Illinois committed 18 turnovers in 20 minutes of play, 10 of which were steals by the Cardinals.

The extra possessions provided only one thing for the Cardinals - extra shots. MAC was 13-26 from the floor in the first half, but the Blue Storm matched their baskets with 13, despite only shooting 20 times.

SW Illinois pulled into the lead and held it until the halfway mark of the first half when the Cardinals ‘Reign 0f Threes' took place. Mineral Area made a stretch of six three-pointers with Dontavis Jones setting off the deluge of long distance net-swishers. Chad Henderson hit three more during the run, and Willie Hassell had two.

The Cardinals smothering defense, however, also manufactured several fouls and the Blue Storm was able to keep up with its efforts at the free throw line, resulting in a lead of 40-37 at half-time.

Mineral Area would regain the lead early in the second half when Hassell popped a quick three-pointer from the left wing to jump-start a second ‘Reign' with Rickey Claitt and Hassell hitting one more apiece to make the score 50-43.

The Cardinals again challenged every shot or drive to the basket by the Blue Storm and the result was foul trouble by MAC and free throws by SW Illinois. The Blue Storm's first 11 points of the half consisted of nine free throws.

Henderson would score five straight points for the Cardinals, before being hacked hard on a breakaway that put him out of the game. Henderson received a cut above the eye and would not return to the game, finishing with 18 points to lead all scorers with nine minutes still left on the clock.

Up stepped John Fowler who not only hit two threes in the second half, but sank five free throws to make him a prefect 7-7 from the line. Fowler scored only two free throws in the first half, but ended up with 15 points for the game.

The game began to resemble more of a gun-and-run format for both teams during the middle minutes of the half, and it allowed Mineral Area to maintain a 10-point advantage.

SW Illinois' 6'9” center Keith Jackson was able to get loose under the basket for an uncontested lay-up, but he missed and Alika Snow pulled down the rebound for MAC, made the outlet pass and a fast break was completed by Tony Webb to give MAC their biggest lead 68-55 and have the Blue Storm's coach Jay Harrington hollering for time-out.

The contest became heated as the time began to dwindle and a loose ball that was collected on the floor by a MAC player resulted in a pile up of players, and a few extra flourishes of pushing created a double technical called by the officials to hopefully contain the outburst to its one incident.

The Blue Storm stepped up their defensive effort as they contested every shot by the Cardinals, and made a small run of their own with Joey Parker hitting a three to complete a nine point run and cut the lead to 68-64.

Coach Harrington called time to give the Blue Storm their next defensive strategy, but Claitt took the inbound pass the full length of the court for two points, and was fouled on the shot. Claitt missed the free throw but the rebound was pulled down by Fowler, who was also fouled on the shot. Fowler made both shots to make it a four-point play.

On MAC's next possession, a conventional three by Fowler seemed to have iced the game with only 2:25 left, but the Blue Storm hit two threes in a row to make it a two-point game. MAC escaped the comeback by the Blue Storm with only 2.5 left on the clock after the visitors' last shot.

Both teams shot nearly 50 percent from the floor with the Blue Storm going 24-54 and Mineral Area 25-50. Fowler led he Cardinals in rebounding with seven boards.

SW Illinois 40 37 - 77

Mineral Area 37 42 - 79

Scoring:

SW Illinois - Bostick 16, Parker 14, Smith 12, Bunch 10, Squires 10, Jackson 7, McCrary 6, Bradshaw 2.

Mineral Area - Henderson 18, Hassell 16, Fowler 15, Claitt 7, Stuckey 7, Leargle 6, Snow 4, Webb 3, Jones 3.