Photo taken and used with permission by Tammy Chamley, Dells City Journal
The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinal boys basketball team took a six-game winning streak into a rematch with the Arlington Cardinals on Thursday, February 13th. Arlington avenged a loss to St Mary earlier in the season with a 69-59 win ending the winning streak for St Mary.
The game went back and forth through the first three quarters. St Mary struck first hitting the first two three-point shots of the game for an early lead. They remained in front holding a 14-9 lead before Arlington ended the quarter on an 8-0 run to lead 17-14 after the first quarter. Arlington continued the run by scoring the first two points of the second quarter to extend their lead to 21-14. St Mary then clamped down on defense and held Arlington to just eight more second quarter points while the offense put up 19 to take a 33-29 lead at halftime.
Arlington tied the game early in the third quarter at 33-33 and then again at 35-35. With the game tied at 37-37, Arlington went on a 10-3 run the remainder of the third quarter to lead 47-40 heading into the fourth quarter. St Mary got within five points at 53-48 and 56-51, but could not get any closer as Arlington had an answer each time St Mary got close.
St Mary shot 40% (22-55) from the field in the game, 24% (5-21) from three-point area, and 56% (10-18) from the free-throw line. They pulled down a total of 30 rebounds and had a total of seven steals.
Connor Libis had a game-high 32 points with three rebounds and two assists. Max Herber had 10 points and six rebounds. Sam Palmer finished with eight points and two blocked shots. West Geraets tallied four points, nine rebounds, and four assists, while Colin Winberg had four points and eight rebounds.
St Mary (12-3) will play Hanson at the DWU/Culver’s Classic in Mitchell on Saturday, February 15th at 4:30 p.m. The game can be seen on Big Sioux Media.