Cardinal overcame early second half foul trouble to defeat host Fairport Harding in a Chagrin Valley Conference Valley Division showdown on Friday, 64-57.
The Huskies picked up eight fouls early in the second half, which forced head coach Jon Cummins to patch together a lineup down the stretch.
“It was kind of mix and match to get some guys in there,” Cummins said. “We were able to get the lead back up to 14 or 15 but it was a sloppy game. They know we should have played better, but it’s better to win ugly than it is to lose pretty. I’ll take it.”
Cardinal led 13-9 after the first quarter and took a 27-20 lead into the break.
Fairport pulled to within 41-37 after three quarters.
Matt Carney, who led Cardinal with 20 points and 13 rebounds, stepped up in the second half to hold off the Skippers.
“He played a little bit of guard and he played inside because Hayden (Cummins) and Robbie (Mulh) were in foul trouble,” Coach Cummins said. “He did an excellent job of getting rebounds and put backs.”
The 20 points and 13 rebounds both were season highs for Carney.
“On both offense and defense, just being physical and aggressive is what my goal was and I think everyone on the team did a great job of that tonight,” Carney said. “The win tonight was a good win, even though we all thought we could’ve played a lot better.”
Luke Timas, Robbie Bruncak and Mulh also scored in double figures for the Huskies.
Timas finished with 16, Bruncak contributed with 14 and Mulh scored 10. Hayden Cummins pulled down 10 rebounds for Cardinal.
“We had the lead the whole game and there’s something to be said for that,” Coach Cummins said. “We had a little bit of adversity in the fourth quarter. We kind of flipped the switch and went back up by 14 or 15. It was good for us.”
Corey Paugh led Fairport with a game-high 26 points.
Cardinal improved to 2-4 overall and 1-2 in the CVC while Fairport dropped to 2-3, 1-2.
The Huskies host Chalker on Wednesday.
Cardinal 64,Fairport 57
Cardinal: Mulh 10, Bruncak 14, Carney 20, Cummins 2, Timas 16, Kosh 2
Fairport: Carrabine 1 Yommer 1, Paugh 26, Severino 8, Alston 4, Schuster 4
Cardinal 13 14 14 23—64
Fairport 9 11 17 20—57
Free throws: Cardinal 18 of 30, Fairport 15 of 23; 3-pointers: Fairport 5 (Paugh 3, Carrabine, Severino), Cardinal 6 (Bruncak 2, Timas 2, Muhl, Carney).
