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Led by an 18 point first half outburst by 6-2 senior Mason Infield the Cassville Comets rolled to a 40-24 lead over Highland at intermission.
But the second half was a much different story.
The Cardinals made some defensive tweaks and limited Infield to five second half points while reversing the scoring role for a 27-12 difference in their favor. The run got the Cardinals within one but they could not close it out as Cassville survived 52-51 in the Six Rivers West match-up.
"We went after Infield and Ty Bausch with a triangle and two the first half," said Highland coach Paul Wedig.
The ploy worked on Bausch who totaled only four for the game but when it did not seem to affect Infield the decision was made to go to a 2-3 zone the second half.
That stopped the penetration, shored up the rebounding and allowed the Cardinals to make the comeback of the year so far.
Spencer Linscheid, who totaled 13 for the Cardinals, put in 10 of those the second half to lead the comeback and Derek Miller, who swept the boards all night, scored nine of his team leading 15. Iasaac Kutzke also had a couple huge threes in the last 18 minutes.
The Comets were clinging to a three point lead when Kutzke pulled up and buried a long three pointer with 50 seconds left to tie. The last minute was a scramble.
Infield made one of two free throws after being fouled on a coast to coast try following a Highland turnover.
The Cardinals had a last second shot with two seconds left when Linscheid pulled up for an open three. The defender appeared to come down on him when he took the shot but no foul was called.
With only nine fouls called on each team throughout the game it was not an oddity for the no call.
But nothing could dim the second half effort by the determined Cardinals.
"It was a phenomenal second half," said Wedig. "We played great defense and gave a great effort. It was our best half of the season."
In junior varsity action the Cardinals lost by five.
SCORE BY HALVES
C 40 12 52
H 24 27 51
BOX SCORE
CASSVILLE 52: (fg-ft-tp) Esser 3-0-6, Infield 9-2-23, Rotar 1-0-2, Bausch 1-2-4, Matousek 3-0-9, Ihm 2-0-6, Hauk 1-0-2 Totals 20-4/7-52. Fouls-9
HIGHLAND 51: Linscheid 5-1-13, Kutzke 2-0-6, J. Miller 1-1-3, Michek 1-0-2, Hying 2-0-4, Patzner 2-0-4, Yanna 2-0-4, D. Miller 7-1-15 Totals 22-3/9-51 Fouls-9
3 point goals:
C-Infield 3, Matousek 3, Ihm 2
H-Linscheid 2, Kutzke 2