Cardinals Beat Raiders in Semi-Finals

By Marlana Smith

  The North Shelby Raiders played South Shelby on Saturday, January 25 in the semi-finals of the 32nd annual NS Tournament. With a big first quarter for the Cardinals, the Raiders were unable to capture the win, losing 63-57.

  “We had slow start. Our game plan was to make other kids beat us and to stop (Cole) Mitchell but he is one heck of a player,” said North Shelby head coach Landon Daniel. 

  South Shelby came out with a boom as it scored six points by shooting two 3-pointers. 

  North Shelby’s Cale Stoneburner tallied a bucket. The Raiders trailed 6-2. With 2:53 left in the quarter, Mitchell fired in a 3-pointer making the Cardinals advantage 11-2.

  The Raiders scored seven more points in the quarter. SS had five 3-pointers in the first quarter allowing them to have a healthy lead, 21-9.

  NS had a good second quarter as it tallied 16 points. The Raiders were able to hold the Cardinals to only 10 points in the quarter. SS still led 31-25.

  Daniel said, “I thought the guys worked hard. It’s just frustrating that we continue to miss lay-ups and miss assignments on defense where we are giving guys open three’s and letting them beat us at the free-throw line.”

  Overall, the third quarter was, offensively, good for both teams. But, the Cardinals continued to dominate on the outside as they made four 3-pointers. The Raiders were able to add 17 to the board, but they still trailed 55-42. 

  NS had a good fourth quarter putting in 15 points and allowing SS to only score eight. North Shelby’s Kyle Smith had seven points in the quarter.

  Dayton Mettes was leading scorer with 13 points. Cale Stoneburner had 12.

  North Shelby will take on the La Plata Bulldogs in the third-place game on Wednesday, January 29.

  Daniel gave his thoughts on the upcoming game, “La Plata is a very athletic team. We’re going to have to take care of the basketball and not turn it over because that’s how they score.”