Junior Logan Sullivan shoots a 3-pointer in front of the Eudora student section during the game against Paola Friday. Sullivan finished the game with 26 points." />
Junior Logan Sullivan shoots a 3-pointer in front of the Eudora student section during the game against Paola Friday. Sullivan finished the game with 26 points.
After a bit of a slow start, the Cardinals boys basketball team turned in another strong shooting night against Paola on their way to a 57-28 victory Friday night.
The Cardinals’ two main men in junior Logan Sullivan and senior Cole Parker led the way as the shooters traded places at halftime.
Sullivan started the game by scoring 14 of the Cardinals’ 16 first-quarter points on his way to 18 first-half points. Then in the second half, Parker heated up as he scored all 11 of his points in the latter half of the game.
“I mean, it helps when you have another shooter attracting all the attention,” Sullivan, who finished with 26 points, said about his first half. “And then once everyone came out on me, just get the ball in the middle.”
Parker said he felt the win was a total team effort.
“I thought, I mean, after the first couple of minutes, we rebounded pretty well and kept them out of the paint,” Parker said. “And then when shots are falling like that for Logan, it always helps. So, I thought we played really well.”
The Cardinals have been on fire defensively the last three games as they have made it tough on opponents to create scoring opportunities and have held opponents to only one possession.
Against Paola, the Cardinals gave their defense somewhat of a different look as they pressed up on their opponents and applied full-court pressure at points in the game.
“I think we wanted to pressure their guards,” Parker said. “I mean, they’re a post heavy team, so getting up and making them make decisions was a big, big factor for us.”
Despite not having the biggest of teams, head coach Kyle Deterding said he likes how the team battles down low and makes it hard on other teams.
“Micah (Barron) and Errol (Siemon) really compete hard and get after it,” Deterding said. “They make those guys earn everything they get. The other team’s big guys got to play well. We’re not giving them any cheap points because Micah and Errol are really good after it down there.”
With a 31-point lead with about half a quarter left to play, Deterding emptied the bench so the younger players on the team could get some minutes while the starters got some extra rest.
“It’s awesome when those guys get to go in and play some at the end,” Deterding said. “I mean, they work hard every day. They give the varsity guys good looks during practice and they compete, so it’s fun watching them get out there and get a chance to play for a few minutes sometimes.”
As for the girls squad, the team fought hard throughout the game, but just couldn’t find a way to come out on top in a low scoring 28-23 loss to Paola.
Missed second chance opportunities were the Cardinals’ downfall.
“You’ll be hard pressed to find a stat line where a team has 20ish offensive rebounds and scored 23 points,” head coach Brandon Parker said.
Junior Kenzie Yoder and senior Sawyer Schreiner led the way in the rebounding category as they combined for 24 total rebounds and 12 offensive rebounds.
As for scoring, however, Yoder chalked the struggles up to the game just being “one of those nights.”
“For me, personally, I think I just like kind of got in my head a little bit,” Yoder said. “After the first couple minutes of ball, I started just trying to get the ball out. So, I wasn’t aggressive, but it happens.”
Yoder led the team in scoring in a tie with Schreiner and junior Jayla Erpelding with seven points as well.
Parker said when he watches this game’s film he thinks he will find some more positives the team can take away, but he was happy that the team’s turnovers were down and how the defense played in this game.
The Cardinal basketball teams will face Louisburg for each team’s final home game of the season.
“We’re going to have to come out ready to play,” Sullivan said. “It’s senior night so we’re going to have a lot of energy. It’s going to be big.”
Erpelding said the girls need to come out with aggression and be ready to go win in order to beat Louisburg.
The girls will start their game at 6 p.m. while the boys will start at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Reach reporter Jack Denebeim at [email protected].
If you appreciate our sports coverage, please donate. Our newspaper depends on your donations to provide coverage of Eudora and continue providing local news.
To donate to support our community journalism, please go to this link: tinyurl.com/y4u7stxj