Cardinals Capture Championship at Pasadena (TX) Shootout

Sep 3, 2013

PASADENA, TX–The Charlottesville Cardinals captured the title at the 2013 Pasadena (TX) Shootout in a wild Texas-style showdown–narrowly knocking off the Austin Rec’ers in the championship game, 63-62, over Labor Day weekend.

Cardinals Brandon Rush, Chris Robinson, Ike Cook, and Tom Vandever were joined by “guest” Cardinals Dan Altan, Joey Johnson, and Chris Kile for an action-packed weekend of heavy competition in the traditional and festive pre-season event.  Twelve teams competed in this year’s tournament.

The Cardinals went 4-1 in round-robin play to claim the #2 seed in the elimination rounds and earned a bye into the semi-finals.

During the round-robin portion of the tournament the Cardinals defeated Colombia 43-35, the Pasadena VC squad 61-36, the Houston Punishers 68-50, and the Houston Revolution 68-47.  Charlottesville’s only round-robin defeat came at the hands of the Austin Rec’ers, 53-46.

In the semi-final match the Cardinals faced an aggressive Houston Punishers squad which kept close throughout the contest with some very effective three-point shooting, but the Charlottesville height and speed maintained the lead throughout the contest en route to claiming a 63-56 win.

The semi-final win propelled the Cardinals into a rematch with the Austin team for the tournament championship.  Both teams came out hot and the score repeatedly changed hands throughout the first half before Austin grabbed a 35-33 margin at the break.

The Austin shooters continued to zero in during the opening minutes of the 2nd half as the Cardinal shooters cooled, and with nine minutes to go the Rec’ers built a 12-point lead.  The Cardinals kept chipping into the margin, but with 14 seconds remaining still trailed by four points, 62-58.

Then the Cardinals’ Brandon Rush went to the foul line and nailed two shots to cut the edge to 62-60, and on the ensuing inbounds play Joey Johnson tipped the pass and Rush snatched it out of the air.  As the clock ticked down Rush launched a three-point shot that kissed the bottom of the net, giving Charlottesville a 63-62 margin with eight seconds left.

After a timeout, Austin again attempted to inbound the ball and this time the Cardinals’ Johnson intercepted  the inlet

pass–sealing the victory for Charlottesville.

The tournament win is the first time the Cardinals have won the championship of the Pasadena Shootout in its 25-year history.