The Cardinals went on a 15-0 run in the first half and never looked back as the Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals defeated the McCook Central/Montrose Cougars 58-42 on Thursday, December 22nd, at Dell Rapids St Mary High School.
The Cougars held an 11-7 lead with less than a minute to go in the first quarter, but the Cardinals rallied to score seven points in that time and had a 14-11 lead at the end of the first quarter. St Mary then scored the first eight points of the second quarter to extend their lead to 22-11. The first half ended with the Cardinals leading 26-16.
McCook Central/Montrose went on a little run of their own to start the third quarter. The Cougars cut the lead to three points in the first half of the third quarter at 29-26. Over the final four minutes of the third quarter, the Cardinals outscored the Cougars 13-5 to push the lead to 42-31 at the quarter break. St Mary then outscored McCook Central/Montrose 16-11 to close out the win.
St Mary finished the game shooting 22-47 (47%) from the field, 7-22 (32%) from three-point area, and 7-15 (47%) from the free-throw line. The Cardinals also had a total of 34 rebounds, 11 assists, eight steals, and just 11 turnovers in the game.
Connor Libis led all scorers with 31 points in the game and also had five assists and five steals. Luke Brown tallied 14 points along with nine rebounds and two steals. Zach Geraets finished with seven points.
The Cardinals (2-3) will play Iroquois at 10:15 a.m. on Wednesday, December 28th, at the Swiftel Classic in Brookings. St Mary will then play Estelline at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 31st, at the Entringer Classic in Brookings.