Extras, Extras: Huge second half lifts Cardinal boys

ELDON ? The Cardinal boys? basketball team enjoyed rallying back so much Tuesday it did it twice.

The Comets, facing a 13-point deficit in the fourth quarter, fought back to force overtime before again rallying from six down in the extra frame to beat Harmony 66-64 in Eldon.

Jonathan Pederson scored seven of the Comets? first 17 points in the fourth period to draw within 53-51 with 2:31 left in the game. The 6-foot junior had a team-high 24 points before fouling out late in the fourth quarter.

?He?s strong, he attacks the rim well so when he gets in the paint he does a nice job finishing shots,? said Cardinal boys head coach Tom Hallgren. ?He?s made the adjustment to pull up and make short jump shots instead of just all the time running straight to the rim.?

Neil Urtado tied it up at 55-all before giving Cardinal the one point lead from the charity stripe. Harmony?s Kory Neeley took the game into overtime on the other side of the court with one made free throw of his own.

At the start of overtime, the Comets fell behind 62-56, but 3-pointers by Dakota Showman and Cody Carter whittled the deficit to 64-62. Charlie Rachford tied it up at 64-all with a minute remaining, and Carter made the go-ahead bucket off an assist from Showman with two seconds remaining. Carter, a junior, had five points, all in overtime.

The first half ? and especially the first quarter ? were marred by sloppy play from the Comets that put them in a huge hole to start. The team turned the ball over 28 times in the game, and a good dose of them came in the first half.

It wasn?t always pretty for Cardinal, which improved its overall record to 3-5 and 3-4 in SEISC south action with the win, but it couldn?t be blamed on a lack of trying.

?Sloppy?s probably a good way to put it,? said Hallgren. ?We were mentally into the game. We were playing hard and we were trying, but we just made some mental mistakes.?

Careless passes led to steals and quick scores for Harmony (4-4, 3-4 SEISC south), which jumped out to a 19-8 lead by the end of the first period.

Two baskets by Pederson and a 3-pointer from Rachford kept the Comets in the game to open the second period, but Harmony maintained a double-digit lead for much of the quarter and took a 34-23 advantage into halftime.

Pederson put the Comets on the scoreboard first to open the second half, turning a steal into two points and cutting the deficit to single digits in the process. Another layup from Pederson cut Harmony?s lead to 34-27. But Harmony staved off the junior and the Comets and kept their double-digit lead mostly intact, scoring 11 points to Cardinal?s 12 in the quarter.

?The adjustment the second half was on our side to convert when we got in the paint and on their side to stop letting them get in the paint,? Hallgren said.

The adjustment worked well, but it wasn?t until the fourth quarter that the Comets effectively flipped the script on Harmony. More importantly, Harmony began to turn the ball over more frequently as Cardinal?s full court pressure forced their opponent into making bad decisions.

Rachford and Showman added 10 points each, while Drew Ostrander and Urtado scored six apiece. Also for the Comets, Showman and Austin Roe dished out three assists apiece. Urtado had four steals and Carter had three steals. Ostrander blocked two shots.

?All these guys have made a lot of mistakes. They?re young, they haven?t played a lot of varsity basketball,? Hallgren added. ?They learn from a lot of them, they?re getting better every day and a win like this really is important to show the effort they?re putting into it.?

The Cardinal boys return to the hardwood Jan. 3 to host Central Lee.

CARDINAL ? Pedersen 24, Rachford 10, Showman 10, Ostrander 6, Urtado 6, Carter 5, Edwards 3, Roe 2, Total 27-47 13-26 66

3-point goals ? Showman 1, Carter 1, Rachford 1. Rebounds ? Edwards 11. Assists ? Showman 3, Roe 3. Steals ? Urtado 5. Blocks ? Ostrander 2