ORLANDO, FL–The 15th-ranked Charlottesville Cardinals wheelchair basketball team dropped a 69-65 heart breaker to the 7th-ranked Atlanta Shepherd Stealers today at the Orlando Invitational Tournament.
With the win the Shepherd squad claimed 3rd place honors in the tournament while the Cardinals were forced to settle for 4th place. The 3rd-ranked Indianapolis RHI Pacers took the tournament championship with a 64-60 victory over the 8th-ranked Las Vegas Silver Bandits. The host 5th-ranked Orlando Magic finished 5th and the 22nd-ranked Charlotte Rollin’ Bobcats finished 6th.
After trailing by seven, 34-27, at halftime, the Cardinals’ offense sputtered briefly as Shepherd stretched their lead to ten points with nine minutes left in the game. But buoyed by some clutch shooting by Charlottesville’s Mike Looney and Chris Robinson the Cardinals closed the gap to 65-60 with just under three minutes to play. Still trailing 67-62 with time running out Brandon Rush nailed a three pointer to bring Charlottesville within two at 67-65 with 14 seconds left, but Shepherd notched two free throws to protect the lead and the Cardinals’ last shot fell short.
Mike Looney led Cardinals’ scorers with 27, while Chris Robinson had 16 and Tom Vandever added 12. Shepherd’s Gavin Cloy led all scorers with 28 points.
In Saturday’s games the Cardinals were spanked early by Shepherd, 81-51, before regrouping to knock off the Charlotte squad 57-42 in the afternoon match-up. Against Shepherd Looney had 18 points and both Vandever and Brandon Rush had 12. Against Charlotte Looney poured in 28 and Rush chipped in 13.
Charlottesville is now 18-12 on the season and travels to Philadelphia next weekend for the Carousel House tournament there.