Cardinals pick up two more wins

It was a good week for the Garner-Hayfield/Ventura boys, as they picked up two big wins moving their record to 4-2 in the North Iowa Conference and 5-2 overall.

GHV 76, Central Springs 51

The GHV boys picked up a 25-point victory over Central Springs on the road Friday, Dec. 19.  

The Cardinals took control of the game early, garnering a 13-3 lead.  Sam Cataldo sunk a two-pointer to end the first quarter with a 19-7 lead.

GHV went on a six-point run in the second quarter to widen the gap, 32-16.  The Cardinals took a 39-23 lead into the break.

“The guys did a good job finding our bigs on the block, and our bigs converted,” said Coach Joe Albertson.

 The Cardinal starters continued their dominance in the second half and scored 16 unanswered points, 59-28, when the bench took over with 4:28 left in the third quarter.  The Panthers had an eight point run of their own in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t near enough, as the Cardinals captured the easy 76-51 victory.

Cataldo led the team with 21 points.  Other scoring leaders included Jonathan O’Connor with 10 points, Harley Forry was 2/3 from the three-point line and ended the night with eight points.  Alex Stromer scored six points and Jack Bertilson, Holden Hutcheson and Payton James all scored five points.

Bertilson led the team under the boards with 10, followed by Cataldo with eight and Logan Ryerson grabbed five.

James led the team in assists with four.  Cataldo had three blocked shots and Michael Chizek had one block.  Forry, Turner Albertson and Ben Baumgard all had two steals.

“Everybody contributed to our victory, and that always keeps morale up,” said Albertson.  “We got great energy off the bench from Jack Bertilson, Michael Chizek, Brandon Ross, Kevin Boehnke, Connor Burke and Chase Theobald.”

GHV 80, Bishop Garrigan 56

A huge first quarter set the Cardinals up for a big victory over Bishop Garrigan on Saturday, Dec. 20.

GHV took command early.  Behind the hot hands of Harley Forry and Johnathan O’Connor, who connected on back to back three-pointers, GHV jumped to a huge 18-2 lead five minutes into the game.  The Cardinals stretched the lead to 26-9 by the end of the period.

The Golden Bears picked it up in the second quarter and went on an eight-point run of their own, but couldn’t make up the huge deficit left from the first quarter.  GHV took a comfortable 43-27 lead into the break.

The third quarter was again commanded by the Cardinals who went on a 10-point run moving the score to 57-28. The third quarter ended with GHV up, 62-37.

Bishop Garrigan had a better fourth quarter and outscored the Cardinals 19-18, but GHV claimed the final 80-56 win.

Sam Cataldo had an amazing game for the Cardinals, collecting 19 points, seven rebounds, seven blocked shots and two steals.

Holden Hutcheson and O’Connor also had a good games collecting 12 and 11 points respectively.  Hutcheson also contributed four assists and two rebounds, while O’Connor had three rebounds and two assists.

Forry was 3/3 from the tre line and ended the game with nine points, five rebounds and three assists.

Ben Baumgard led the team in assists with five and he had one steal.

The Cardinals traveled to North Iowa on Monday, Dec. 22.  Those results will appear in next week’s edition of the Clear Lake Mirror-Reporter. Following the holiday break the team is back in action on Tuesday, Jan. 6, at home.