Photo taken and used with permission by Tammy Chamley
The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinal boys basketball team hosted the #1 De Smet Bulldogs in their first home game of the season on Monday, December 20th. The Cardinals hung with the Bulldogs most of the game, but De Smet was able to pull away late with a 60-42 win.
Both teams got after each other the entire game in a good, hard-fought battle. The first quarter was back-and-forth with the Cardinals holding a 14-13 lead at the end of it. St Mary continued to lead by two points, 19-17, with 4:45 to play in the half. De Smet, however, outscored the Cardinals 15-6 the rest of the way for a 32-25 halftime lead.
The Bulldogs pushed their lead to 39-28 with 5:10 to play in the third quarter. St Mary cut the lead down to 39-33 with 4:00 left in the quarter, but that was as close as they could get in the second half. De Smet went on a 7-2 run to end the third to lead 46-35 going into the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs outscored St Mary 14-7 in the final quarter.
The Cardinals shot 31% (16-51) overall, just 19% (3-16) from three-point area, and 47% (7-15) from the free-throw line. De Smet was 47% (22-47) shooting in the game, 29% (5-17) on three-pointers, and 69% (11-16) on free throws. The Bulldogs also had a slight 31-28 rebounding advantage.
Dylan Mathis led the Cardinals in scoring with 16 points and also had six rebounds, two steals, and two assists. John Pica and Nic Gaspar both had nine points and seven rebounds each. CJ Smith finished with four points, three rebounds, and two assists. Kalen Garry had 24 points, and Damon Wilkinson had 18 points for the Bulldogs.
St Mary (2-1) will host Chester on Tuesday, December 28th for their next game.