The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinal boys basketball team added another win in the win column after a 74-68 road victory over the Deubrook Area Dolphins on Friday, January 11th at Deubrook High School in White.
The Dolphins grabbed seven point lead at 11-4 in the first four and a half minutes of the ball game. After an early timeout in the first quarter, the Cardinals outscored the Dolphins 10-2 the remainder of the quarter for a 14-13 lead. The momentum continued for St Mary in the second quarter as they outscored Deubrook 22-11 for a 36-24 halftime lead.
Unfortunately for St Mary, they had to head to the locker room for halftime. The break is just what Deubrook needed to regather themselves. The Dolphins stormed back in the third quarter cutting the lead to just three points. The Cardinals were clinging to a 51-48 lead heading into the final quarter. And what worked for Deubrook at halftime worked for the Cardinals at the end of the third quarter. The quarter break was enough for the Cardinals to regroup as St Mary slowly pulled away from the Dolphins throughout the quarter. St Mary pushed the lead to 66-54 with about three minutes to go. The Cardinals held on the rest of the way for the win.
Connor Libis finished with a game-high 34 points and also pulled down five rebounds. Max Herber added 14 points and three rebounds. Deubrook Area was led by Brock Sheffield with 17 points and 1o rebounds.
St Mary (7-1) will play Estelline/Hendricks in the opening round of the Dakota Valley Conference Tournament on Tuesday, January 15th. Tip-off is at 6:00 p.m. at Elkton High School. The game can be seen on Big Sioux Media.