By CHRIS FORTUNE
The Cardinals went on the road to take on Spring Hill where they displayed a dominant first half on offense, but they had to scrape by at the free throw line to finish the game.
Senior Ty Abts led the way with 16 points and helped fuel an early lead as he scored both of his threes in the first half. Senior Justin Fawcett scored 14 points with most of them coming from close range or in the paint.
“The first half was good,” head coach Kyle Deterding said. “They missed a lot of shots that they usually make so the score was not indicative of the game because they did not make anything, but we did play a really good first half.”
Eudora made four 3-pointers in the first half and scored in the paint at will as Spring Hill had trouble handling the size of Fawcett and sophomore Jaden Hamm.The Spring Hill offense could not get shots to drop in the first half as the Cardinals took a 33-17 lead at halftime.
“When we took care of the ball and we could get it inside, our big guys, both of them, did a nice job,” Deterding said. “They got on balance, and they did a nice job finishing around the rim.”
It was a tale of halves as Spring Hill closed in on the double-digit Eudora lead in the third quarter. Eudora went cold on offense while the lid on the rim seemed to have been lifted for Spring Hill as they were able to score from three and score easy layups in transition.
Despite the Spring Hill run in the third quarter, Eudora was able to maintain a 45-41 lead going into the fourth quarter.
“Third quarter went kind of how I expected, although they scored a little faster,” Deterding said. “They are a good basketball team so I knew it was gonna be something we have to battle for, but we finally did buckle down and make enough plays to hang on there at the end.”
Spring Hill managed to make it a two-point game when they brought the score to 55-53 in the fourth, but they were forced to start fouling with just under a minute left. Eudora mustered enough points at the free throw line to hold off the late run by Spring Hill and pick up with the 58-55 win.
The Cardinals play at 11:30 a.m. today at Louisburg. The game was rescheduled from Feb. 16.
Reach reporter Chris Fortune at eudoratimes@gmail.com.
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