Photo taken and used with permission by Tammy Chamley
The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals survived a tough battle against the Chester Flyers at home on Tuesday, December 28th. The Cardinals took the win 53-46 to improve to 3-1 on the season.
The first quarter featured a couple of spurts. The Cardinals opened the game on a 7-0 run only to see the Flyers respond with an 14-1 run. The Flyers ended the first quarter leading 16-14. The Cardinals held Chester to just four points in the second quarter allowing them to have a 26-20 halftime lead.
After the Flyers got the first basket of the third quarter, St Mary went on another big run the rest of the quarter. The Cardinals outscored Chester 15-6 for a 41-28 lead heading into the fourth quarter. The Flyers made a push to start the fourth quarter. Chester closed the gap to 43-36, but back-to-back baskets by Ty Brown and John Pica extended the lead back to 47-36 with 3:15 to play in the game. Chester, however, made one last comeback effort. The Flyers got within four points, 48-44, but Brown and Pica put the game out of reach with two made free-throws each.
Pica finished with a game-high 18 points. Brown added 10 points. Dylan Mathis had nine points, and CJ Smith had eight points in the game.
The Cardinals (3-1) will play Deuel at the Entringer Classic in Brookings at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, December 31st.