By Christopher Shaban EAGLE TIMES STAFF
CLAREMONT — After having 10 days off, Ray Curren’s Cardinals could smell a win after taking a 38-36 lead following a terrific third quarter of action-packed emotional basketball with three lead changes and two ties.
The Bears opened the final quarter with a steal to square the game 38-38 then took a lead before the Cardinals Kayden LaClair lofted a floater down the lane to tie things up one last time.
“We tried to get to the rim but just couldn’t find a way to beat their defense,” Curren said.
On the other end, Newfound found the Cardinals defense just as tough and settled for some long range rain makers. The problem for Stevens was that the Bears found their mark putting Stevens in a 47-40 hole with an 11-2 run. With bodies flying all over the court and a Cardinals press that was in desperation mode, Stevens began to fight back.
In a hectic final three minutes, Reeve Wilkinson dropped in a three pointer as the Cardinals were in full press mode. A Newfound charge handed the ball back to Stevens but back to back turnovers had the fans screaming but no change in the 47-43 score.
With less than a minute to play, Cooper Moote banked a shot off the glass from outside the arc cutting the lead to 46-47 as the gym was wild. Newfound’s Malik Ingram drew a foul and with ice water in his veins sank both free throws with lots of noise raining down from the Stevens’ student section. A Cardinal timeout with only a few ticks on the clock set up one more chance to tie the game but Newfound managed to force a jump ball with the possession arrow pointing towards the Bears as time expired.
“This would have been a great win for us, having 10 days off and getting injured players back,” said Curren as Stevens is scheduled to have five games this week. “This will be an interesting week.”
The Cardinals will be at Fall Mountain and Inter Lakes then finish at home against Newport on Thursday and Monadnock on Friday.
Moote led Stevens with 11 points while Trystan Lane finished with nine points and LaClarin chipped in with six points. The Cardinal took three trips to the foul line hitting one while Newfound hit 11-of-21 from the charity stripe. Newfound improved to 8-7 while Stevens fell to 7-5.
Stevens 63, Fall Mountain 43Kayden LaClair scored 14 points to lead a balanced attack, while Cooper Moote and Reeve Wilkinson added 12 each for the Cardinals (8-5), who continue its five games in five days stretch Wednesday at Inter-Lakes. Brady Elliott had 15 points to lead the Wildcats.
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