MEDICAL LAKE — The Cardinal boys had a rough past week as they head into the end of the 2019-2020 season, winning a home game against Newport, then dropping the next two games to Freeman and Deer Park.
The Cardinals offense came in strong from the tip-off at the Tuesday, Feb. 4 home game determined to beat Newport who had derailed their mid-season, eight-game winning streak with a Jan. 14 65-52 win.
And they did, dominating the Grizzlies offensively, heading into the half with a comfortable 30-19 lead they extended to 46-35 into the fourth, where Newport outscored the Cardinals by four points, but not enough to overcome point deficit in the 57-48 Cardinal home victory.
Jordan Petersen led the Cardinals with 20 points, followed by Nick Mason with 13 and Zeke Lewis with 10.
Then it was off to Northeast A League-leading Freeman (9-3, 15-5) on Thursday, Feb. 6, for a hard-fought defeat at the hands of the Scotties.
Both teams did well offensively in the first half with Medical Lake enjoying a five-point, 32-27 lead by the end of the second quarter.
But the Cardinals apparently left their game in the locker room after the halftime break, allowing the Scotties to out-shoot them by 13 points in the third while only managing to put up four of their own points for a 44-36 Freeman lead at the end of the quarter.
While Medical Lake came back in the fourth to out score Freeman by three points, it wasn’t enough to narrow the gap third quarter gap and in the end the Cards fell to the Scotties 67-62.
“Missed a lot of free throws that really cost us,” head coach Jordan Starr said.
Petersen did his best to carry the team offensively, scoring 28, while Mason had 18.
Then it was off to face NEA No. 3 Deer Park — who had beaten them badly on the Cardinal’s home hardwood 52-39 just the week before — on the Stags home turf on Friday.
Deer Park used the same strategy — come in aggressively, score early and hold the lead through the game — to pound the Cardinals 25-9 in the first quarter and 13-7 in the second for a 35-16 lead at the half.
The Cards were never able to muster any momentum against the Stags. They only managed to venture into double-digit scoring in the fourth, but Deer Park still out-scored the Cards by one point and ended up closing the game with a 69-38-blowout loss.
Only Mason was able to break into double digit scoring with 11 points.
“We went to Deer Park and ran into a motivated team that was making shots and defending well,” Starr said. “We could not get our offense rolling to keep pace with Deer Park.”
At the end of the regular season the Cardinals had to settle for second place in the NEA behind Freeman with an 8-4-league record and 15-5 overall.
District playoffs were scheduled to begin Tuesday, Feb. 11 with Medical Lake hosting the Lakeside Eagles (4-8, 7-13) — who just beat Deer Park 64-61 on Feb. 6.
The winner was scheduled to face Deer Park on Friday, Feb. 14, at West Valley High School with a 6 p.m. tip-off.
The winner advances to the league championship game slated for Wednesday, Feb. 19 at West Valley, and will face the winner of either Colville or Newport against Freeman, also scheduled for Feb. 14.
Lee Hughes can be reached at lee@cheneyfreepress.com.
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