Cardinal boys bow out to Lakeside in season finale

The Medical Lake boys basketball team lost their third in a row, losing on the road at West Valley High School in their final game of the season against the Lakeside Eagles Wednesday, Feb. 13 in a 77-57 smacking.

Things initially looked good for the Cards. Led by Garren Garza, they came out hot from the tip-off, and outscored the Eagles by three points in the first period.

But the Eagles were just warming up.

Lakeside came back in the second quarter with a nearly impenetrable defensive wall that kept the Cards away from the Eagle net, holding them to only five points — four of those points from two Alex Stith field goals in the final seconds of the quarter — giving the Eagles a 27- 22 lead going into the half.

The third quarter was more balanced but still not in the Card’s favor, with the Eagles outgunning the Medical Lake by two points. The Cards seemed to run out of defensive gas in the fourth, allowing Lakeside to outscore them by 13 points for a final score of 77-57.

In the end the Eagles came to play as a team. Only two of the team’s 12 players were unable to put a ball in the basket; four Eagles players had double-digit scores. The Cards were outscored 21-19 in field goals, 8-3 in 3-pointers, and by over 13 percentage points at the free throw line.

Alex Stith led the Cards with 18 points, eight field goals and went 2 for 4 on free throws. Nick Mason had 13 and went 2 for 2. Garren Garza scored 12 points.

The Card boys are officially done for the season. Fifth in the NEA, they went 5-7 in league play and 8-15 overall.

In the end Medical Lake played the 33rd strongest schedule in the state, and were ranked 174th overall, according to maxpreps.com.

Lee Hughes can be reached at lee@cheneyfreepress.com