Cards end regular season with two wins

(Above) Defense is the name of the game for GHV’s Johnny O’Connor during Tuesday night’s game against North Union.  O’Connor’s speed picked up three steals for the Cardinals.  Also pictured is James Betz. -Reporter photo by Chris Barragy

The Garner-Hayfield-Ventura boys are ready to make a run in the post-season. The Cardinals wrapped up a successful regular season with two more wins, moving their record to 16-0 in conference and 20-1 overall.

GHV 65, North Union 38

The Cardinals may have started a bit slow, but they kicked it into high gear in the second quarter.  GHV easily handed North Union (8-7, 10-9) a 65-38 loss on Tuesday, Feb. 7.

“North Union has a couple of shooters that cannot be allowed a clean look at the rim, or they can put you in a hole,” said Coach Joe Albertson.  “Early on we struggled defending and was not playing with urgency and we got caught watching the ball too much.”

North Union played tough in the first quarter and were matching GHV basket-for-basket early on.  The Warriors even took a two-point lead midway through the quarter, before the Cardinals pumped in 10 unanswered points.  North Union connected on a three with :12 remaining to trail by five, 20-15.

GHV took control in the second quarter and outscored the Warriors, 21-6, heading to the break with a 41-21 advantage.

The second half continued with GHV dominating on their way to a 65-38 victory.

“James Betz and Ryan Meyers were very efficient scorers on the block.  Their teammates did a great job getting them the ball in places where they could get up great shots,” said Albertson.

Both Meyers and Betz finished in double digits with 19 and 16 points respectively  Nick Joynt added eight points, while Johnny O’Connor added six.

Betz led the team under the boards with six rebounds.  Joynt grabbed five, while Holden Hutcheson hauled down four.

Hutcheson led the team in assists with six.  O’Connor and Connor Burke both had four assists.

O’Connor led the team in steals with three.  Betz had two blocked shots.

GHV 60, Bishop Garrigan 46

The Cardinals had to overcome a very rough first half to claim a victory over Bishop Garrigan (9-7, 13-8) on Thursday, Feb. 9.

“Our first matchup with Garrigan was a good battle,” said Coach Joe Albertson.  “Early on we shot very poorly and made too many mistakes.”

The Golden Bears weren’t messing around in the first quarter.  They jumped to an early 7-3 lead.  GHV battled back to knot the game at 7-7 with 1:41 remaining in the first quarter, but a last second three-pointer gave the Golden Bears a 10-7 lead.

The Cardinals kept fighting, but Bishop Garrigan kept them on their heels and took a 25-17 lead into the half.

“We knew we needed to hit some shots, keep them off the glass and force their players away from their strengths,” said Albertson.

The Cardinals made their adjustments and it worked.  Ryan Meyers connected on a three to open the half and that got the game rolling for GHV.  Another three by Holden Hutcheson tied the game, 27-27.  From there it was a back-and-forth battle and the third quarter ended in a 36-36 draw.

GHV had something to prove in the fourth quarter, as they went on a scoring frenzy and outscored the Golden Bears 24-10 for the final 60-46 victory.

“I guess the guys wanted to have a perfect conference record, because they took over in the fourth and put it away,” said Albertson.  “The win also