A tough second half for the Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinal boys basketball team allowed the Lake Preston Divers to earn their first victory of the season 50-39 over the Cardinals on Friday, January 9th, in Lake Preston.
The first half of the opening quarter was back-and-forth as the game was tied 3-3, 5-5, and 7-7. The Cardinals then went on an 8-2 run to close out the first quarter and had a 15-9 lead over the Divers at the end of the first quarter. St Mary held an eight-point lead two times in the second quarter. The opened up the quarter on a 4-2 run to go ahead 19-11. The Cardinals also led 24-16. Lake Preston was able to pull within four points at 24-20, but the Cardinals extended the lead to 28-21 late in the quarter. The Divers scored the final two points of the half to cut the Cardinal lead to five at halftime, 28-23.
The Divers opened up the third quarter on an 8-0 run to take their first lead since early in the first quarter at 31-28. Lake Preston was able to push that lead to 37-32 by the end of the quarter, holding St Mary to just one field goal in the entire third quarter. The Cardinals closed the gap to 39-34 early in the fourth quarter, but was outscored by Lake Preston 11-5 over the rest of the game.
Mitch Brown led the Cardinals with 15 points in the game. Ryan Welbig finished with seven points, and Zach Geraets and Christian Schnieders each had four points. The Cardinals shot 10-18 from the free-throw line in the game. Lake Preston was led by Colton Hageman with 19 points, and Brock Brumann had 18 points. The Divers were 19-33 from the free-throw line.
St Mary falls to 0-7 on the year. The Cardinals will play Garretson in a make-up game on Monday, January 12th, in Dell Rapids. The game will be webcast on Big Sioux Media.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Dell Rapids St Mary | 15 | 13 | 4 | 7 | 39 |
| Lake Preston | 9 | 14 | 14 | 13 | 50 |
Highlights