Cardinals take it to the hoop in two big wins

GHV’s Nick Joynt is intent on the basket as he drives for two.  Joynt scored in double figures with 12-points.  Clearing the lane for the drive is Sam Cataldo. -Reporter photo by Chris Barragy

It was week of dominance for the Garner-Hayfield-Ventura boys, as they picked up two big wins, pushing their record to 5-1, 5-2.

GHV 71, Bishop Garrigan 38

The Cardinals pounded Bishop Garrigan (1-3, 2-3) by 33-points on their way to a 71-38 victory on Tuesday, Dec. 15.

“Typically, Bishop Garrigan is a good shooting team, but they were coming off a poor shooting night and a loss, so we didn’t know what kind of team would show up,” said Coach Joe Albertson.

Seven players had buckets in the first quarter to push GHV to a 23-10 lead.  Holden Hutcheson sunk a three with :02 second remaining on the clock for a 37-21 halftime lead.

“Early on we did a nice job knocking down perimeter shots to build a nice lead,” said Albertson.

The scoring frenzy continued in the third quarter, with GHV outscoring B-G, 22-7, pushing a 16-point lead to 31.  The subs came in midway through the fourth quarter and added to the score for the final, 71-38.

Three players reached double figures for the Cardinals.  Jonathan O’Connor led the onslaught with 14-points.  Hutcheson was close behind with 13-points.  Both O’Connor and Hutcheson were 2/5 behind the three-point line.  Sam Cataldo added 11-points, while James Betz had nine and Turner Albertson chipped in seven.

Betz led the team under the boards with 10 rebounds.  Cataldo grabbed eight and Nick Joynt had six boards.

Albertson led the team is assists with five.  Hutcheson and Payton James had four assists each.  Albertson also had four steals.

GHV 80, Lake Mills 65

Coming off five straight blow-out wins, Lake Mills was a team to be reckoned with. The Cardinals hosted the Bulldogs (3-2, 5-2) on Friday, Dec. 18, to determine which strong team was better.

“Lake Mills was shooting the ball better than anyone in North Iowa,” said Coach Joe Albertson.  “We knew we had to play much better identifying shooters to beat them.”

The Cardinals couldn’t buy a bucket early in the game, as the Bulldogs jumped to an early 5-0 lead.  Jonathan O’Connor and Holden Hutcheson got the momentum going with back-to-back threes.  Ben Baumgard hit another three at the buzzer to close the quarter, 20-13.  The Cardinals went on an 11-point run in the second quarter, 37-26.  Lake Mills hit back-to-back threes to close the gap, 37-32.  Another three-point shot at the buzzer, this time by Turner Albertson, gave GHV a 42-33 halftime lead.

The Bulldogs went on a nine-point run in the third quarter to move to within six-points, 56-50.  Lake Mills only trailed by five-points early in the fourth quarter.  Back-to-back threes by James Betz pushed the lead to 11, 66-55.  That was the turning point for the Cards as they cruised to an 80-65 victory.

“By limiting our turnovers and fouls, we showed some of our biggest improvements so far this season,” said Albertson.

Sam Cataldo had a tremendous game for GHV, recording a double-double with 24-points and 13 rebounds.  Also scoring in double figures was Betz with 14, Nick Joynt had 12 and O’Connor added 10.  Hutcheson ended the night with nine-points.

Betz was also a rebound leader with six.  O’Connor and Hutcheson led the team in assists with four apiece.  Betz also had two blocked shots and Albertson had two steals.