Cardinal used a 21-6 second quarter run to cruise to a 59-34 win at Newbury on Wednesday.
The win snapped the Huskies’ six-game skid.
“I thought we played pretty well,” said Cardinal coach Jon Cummins. “Not being able to win games for 6 games in a row puts a bitter taste in everyone’s mouth and it’s our job as coaches to get these guys motivated to go out and win a game. That’s what we needed to kind of get back in that winning mode.”
In the first quarter, the Huskies played a bit tentative as they implemented an aggressive game plan.
They settled in early in the second quarter and used an aggressive defense to create several fast break scoring opportunities.
“I think it started with the defense because we were able to get some steals,” Cummins said. “We mixed it up a little bit defensively and the kids were a little more aggressive. In the beginning of the game it was a little tough to get into the flow of things. We weren’t taking advantage of situations and had three or four turnovers. That didn’t help us much but we turned it around in the second quarter and converted on a lot of fast breaks. That was the key in turning it around.”
Craig Kaser led the Huskies with 15 points and Luke Timas added eight.
The two guards were successful in distributing the basketball, which led to all 12 of Cardinal’s players scoring in the game.
“Every one of our kids scored, so that was nice for everybody to get on the board,” Cummins said. “Timas only had eight points but he played excellent. His shots just weren’t falling. He was passing and set the table for a lot of guys. He played really well. I’ve been trying to get him to shoot the ball more and he finally decided to do that. Our guards both played really well.”
Jake Francis and Hayden Cummins both contributed with six points and Cody Naftzger added five in the win. Cardinal’s other regulars, Andrew Miller, Robby Mulh and Kody O’Brien, pitched in with four, four and three points, respectively.
Matt Carney, Austin Klatik, Parker Kosh and Dylan Veon each scored two points.
“It was good to get a lot of those kids in,” Cummins said. “I don’t know how many of those games we’ll have left. Every game we have left will be very competitive, so it was nice to get those kids an opportunity to play some varsity basketball moving into next year and beyond that. Getting them into a game was good so they can get used to the big stage so it’s not a big deal when those kids who played minimally right now will have an opportunity to start next year.”
The Huskies return to action on Tuesday when they travel to Fairport Harding.
