Dell Rapids St. Mary OT Thriller Takeaways
The Dell Rapids St. Mary Cardinals tend to find themselves in overtime a lot this season, five to be exact. They also found themselves in their second game in a row in overtime with a 67-66 come-from-behind win against Lake…
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Continue ReadingThe Dell Rapids St. Mary Cardinals tend to find themselves in overtime a lot this season, five to be exact. They also found themselves in their second game in a row in overtime with a 67-66 come-from-behind win against Lake Preston on Friday.
After a sluggish start to the game, the Cardinals got the ball rolling against the Divers. Lake Preston jumped out to an early 5-0 lead while holding the Cardinals to no points in the opening minutes of the game. The Cardinals would start to heat up and only trailed 13-11 after one.
Lake Preston would answer back in the second quarter pushing their lead to 23-14 at one point before St. Mary would answer back with a 6-0 run to finish out the half trailing 23-30 at the intermission.
The Cardinals would own their first lead of the game in the opening minutes of the second half, 25-23. Both teams would trade baskets back and forth until the Divers went on end the quarter on a 17-6 run to take a 44-34 lead into the final quarter.
Connor Libis made sure he was going to do everything he could to get the Cardinals back on the winning track. He capped off a 15-5 scoring run with a three-pointer to tie the game 49-49. The Cardinals would take a 60-56 lead with 1:05 left to play but the Divers were able to tie up the game with less than six seconds to play at 60. Connar Kangas was fouled on a last-second shot but was unable to hit from the charity stripe.
Lake Preston came out leading 64-60 in OT before a free throw and a three-pointer from St. Mary to tie the game at 64 with 1:42 left. With the game on the line, Libis made a clutch shot from deep with 20 seconds left to seal the win for the Cardinals.
With the win, the Cardinals improve to 9-3 on the season and the Divers drop to 2-10.
Team Scoring
Dell Rapids St. Mary — 11 9 14 26 7 — 67
Lake Preston — 13 10 21 16 6 — 66
Team Leaders
DRSM — Connor Libis had a team-high 35 points and Colin Winberg chipped in with 10 points.
Lake Preston — Paydon Casper led four players in double figures with 15 points.
Takeaways
Overtime Thrillers
The Cardinals are prone to come-from-behind thrillers this season. With five overtime games thus far and a couple of back-to-back overtime games, the Cardinals prove time and time again that they aren’t out of the game no matter what the score is.
Divers Haven’t Dove For The Bottom
The Divers (2-10) proved that a record doesn’t define who you are as a team. They took it to the Cardinals (9-3) from the opening tip leading by as many as nine in the game. They just weren’t able to stop the Cardinals momentum or keep it in their favor.
Libis Is Back
After a sub-par shooting performance against Elkton-Lake Benton (8 points), the sophomore phenom has had a 35 point game and a 34 point game since that game. He is a big key to the Cardinals continuing to find success as they get close to playoffs.
Cardinals Start Road Stretch
The Cardinals six-game road stretch starting at Garretson on Monday. St. Mary is 4-2 on the road and 5-1 at home this season. The Cardinals are giving up 64.8 points and scoring 70 points on the road with 3-of-5 OT games happening on the road.
UP NEXT:
The Cardinals travel to Garretson on Monday for game one of their six-game road stretch.
Lake Preston hosts Great Plains Luthern on Tuesday at 5 p.m. for game two of their three-game home stretch.