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The Columbus Cardinals are now officially on a 12-game winning streak after defeating the Rice Raiders Friday night.
They came away with a 60-50 win Friday night, and the game was as intense as the score reflected.
Cards The Cards actually had to play a little bit of catch up in this game against the Raiders. The Raiders came into this game hungry for a win to keep their playoff hopes alive.
Early on the Raiders brought the game to the Cards and jumped out to an early lead and by the end of the first quarter the Cards found themselves trailing 24-15. The second quarter was not much better for the Cards as the Raiders’ speed continued to control the pace of play.
The Cards went into halftime down 34-25 and used the break to refresh and refocus themselves, and they came out firing on all cylinders in the third quarter. They tightened up their defense and limited the Raiders to only seven points in the third quarter.
This was big because the Cards’ offense scored 16 points in the third quarter to tie the game up at 41-41. The fourth quarter was pure electricity as the crowd really got into the game.
The teams traded leads in the fourth quarter, but the Cards made enough defensive plays and heated up from 3-pt land to come away with the 60-50 win. It was a great game but now let’s flip over and take a look at the Raiders side of things.
Raiders The Rice Raiders wanted a win in this game to give them a chance to jump up into a playoff spot in the district standings. As mentioned before, they came into this game playing a fast and aggressive game.
They jumped out to an early lead and were doing a great job defensively, both limiting the Cards’ chances and snatching rebounds on the defensive side of things. Then on offense they moved the ball fast and took advantage of the Cards defensive lapses as they struggled to keep up with the Raiders’ speed.
They carried a 34-25 lead into halftime but coming out of the break they took their foot off the gas. The Cards pushed the Raiders back after being pushed around in the first half, and the Raiders scored only seven points in the third.
They did bounce back in the fourth quarter scoring 16 points as the crowd tried to cheer the Raiders to a victory. Unfortunately, the Cards were able to barley edge out the Raiders and come away with a 60-50 win.
The Cards and Raiders now look ahead to their next game against Enda and Hallettsville respectively, with both games on the road and tip off set for 7:30 p.m.
