Van Buren runs over Cardinal with big first half

KEOSAUQUA ? Cardinal threw everything they could at Van Buren Tuesday night, but the Warriors took just about all of it in stride.

After several different defenses failed to contain the inside-outside Van Buren duo of Jordon Hervey and Lucas Sandry, the Warriors coasted in for a 62-43 victory to open the season.

?They played some man-to-man, 2-3 zone and even went to a triangle-and-two that we didn?t have much time to prepare for,? said Van Buren head coach Fred Parsons. ?It just takes some time to go through your assortment of plays and figure out what?s going to work, but we were still able to isolate Hervey and he took care of it from there.?

The senior scored 11 points in the first quarter and ended the night with a game-high 23. While those numbers have come to be expected after the all-conference performer averaged 19 points and just shy of 10 rebounds a season ago, the emergence of Sandry as a second scorer pushed Van Buren to its early lead. Sandry, also a senior, led the Warriors in first half scoring with 12 helping his team to an 11-3 run to close out the second period and a 36-14 lead at the break.

?That kind of first half turned out to be the game,? Parsons said.

Sandry finished the contest with 19 points and one three-pointer while Spencer Droz added eight points.

?I don?t think we really came ready to play,? said Cardinal head coach Kenny Hamm. They?re tough in the middle and they took advantage of our mistakes ? bottom line. We gave them 11 offensive rebounds that led to scores and turned the ball over close to 20 times ? it?s hard to win when you do that.?

The Comets rallied from the slow start ? which became a bit of a trademark last season ? to outscore Van Buren in the second half and bring the final score within 20.

?I just have to find some way to get the guys out of the gate better,? Hamm said.

Trevor Kayser battled down from start to finish down low for Cardinal to lead the Comets with 14 points and eight boards while Matt Smith added 13 points.

?It we?re not turning it over, we didn?t shoot all that bad, but I would still like to see the shot selection get a little better,? said Hamm, whose team shot 18-35 from inside the arc but just 1-11 from outside.

Van Buren will take its 1-0 record to Harmony Friday night while Cardinal will try again for win No. 1 Thursday at Pekin.