Cardinal scored 49 second-half points to erase an eight-point deficit in a 72-60 win over visiting Cuyahoga Heights on Friday.
The Huskies also scored 49 points in the second half of their win over Pymatuning Valley on Tuesday.
“That’s two games in a row we were able to do that,” said Cardinal coach Jon Cummins. “Defensively, ‘we weren’t playing that well but we finally got some stops. Cuyahoga Heights really wants to throw the ball down and go one-on-one with us and we weren’t playing good help-side defense. It just wasn’t good one-on-one defense and the team defense lacked as well. In the second half, the kids came ready to play.”
Cardinal’s win over Cuyahoga Heights was its first since the 2012-2013 season.
“The kids are really happy,” Cummins said. “They haven’t beaten them in anything probably since middle school.”
Robbie Mulh paced the Huskies with a game-high 23 points and pulled down a team-high 13 rebounds.
“On offense, I just kept try to get to the basket and I was hot so my teammates kept hitting me,” Mulh said. “Defense was a big part of tonight’s game. We played it really well in the second half getting stops and turning those into transition points and it’s important because it will help our confidence stay up to carry into the next game. We just have to keep pushing to do our best in the games and if we keep doing what we are doing we have a possibility to go pretty far in the postseason.”
Mulh also hit one of three straight 3-pointers the Huskies hit early in the fourth quarter to pull away from the Redskins.
Parker Kosh and Casey Horner also drained 3s during that run.
Robbie Bruncak finished with 11 points and tied Luke Timas with a team-high six assists. Timas finished with 10 points and Kosh and Matt Carney both scored nine. Kosh also hit six straight free throws in the fourth quarter.
As good as Cardinal’s offense was in the second half, it was the defense that helped the Huskies come from behind for their third straight win.
“We played good team defense,” Cummins said. “The guys were getting a lot of deflections and that was big for us. In the first half we were playing kind of lackadaisical with their hands down. They bought into it a little more and worked harder in the second half. Casey Horner gave us a little spark defensively in that third quarter as well.”
Cardinal improved to 9-10 overall and 6-8 in the Chagrin Valley Conference Valley Division. The Huskies travel to Ravenna Southeast on Tuesday.
Cardinal 72, Cuyahoga Heights 60
Cuyahoga Hts: D’Orazio 15, Polk 7, Adamo 4, Hughes 12, Lasky 1, Selio 4, Salem 17
Cardinal (9-10, 6-8): Bruncak 10, Carney 9, Mulh 23, Timas 10, Kosh 10, Cummins 6, Horner 4
Cuyahoga Hts 12 19 9 20 — 60
Cardinal 11 12 23 26 — 72
Free throws: Cuyahoga Hts 10 of 14, Cardinal 14 of 20; 3-pointers: Cuyahoga Hts 2 (D’Orazio, Polk), Cardinal 6 (Bruncak 2, Mulh 2, Kosh, Horner)
