ATLANTA–The 16th-ranked Charlottesville Cardinals wheelchair basketball team opened the competition at the Shepherd Shootout Tournament by dropping games against the 4th-ranked Orlando Magic, 52-39, and to the 14th-ranked Atlanta Shepherd Stealers, 68-46, before notching a win Saturday afternoon against the Birmingham, Alabama-based Lakeshore Storm squad, 64-57.
In the match-up against Orlando the Cardinals fell behind by ten points at the half 29-19 as Charlottesville struggled to find the basket and committed more than 15 turnovers in the opening period. The opening minutes of the second half offering little consolation as Orlando stretched its lead to 16. But with 14 minutes to play the Cardinals mounted a furious rally to cut the deficit to two points 32-30 with six minutes left in the game. The Orlando press took a toll on the Cardinals, however, as Charlottesville committed a series of costly turnovers that allowed the Magic to go on a 20-9 run in the final minutes to ice the game at 52-39. Tom Vandever led Cardinals’ scorers with 14 points, followed by Arthur Tracy with 9, Jeremy Smith with 6, Brandon Rush with 5, Chris Robinson with 3, and Jacob Tyree with 2. Orlando’s Paul Schulte led all scorers with 25 points.
In the midday contest the Cardinals tangled with the host Shepherd Stealers and again Charlottesville’s offensive woes continued as the Shepherd squad built a 34-20 edge at the break. The Cardinals never could cut the margin to single-digits in the second half and finally bowed to the Atlanta team 68-46. Tom Vandever again led Cardinals’ scorers with 20, while Arthur Tracy had 14, Brandon Rush had 6, and Chris Robinson, Jeremy Smith, and Jacob Tyree chipped in 2 points each. Shepherd’s Gavin Cloy led all scorers with 23 points and Shepherd’s Darryl Waller added 14.
Charlottesville’s offense finally found the gym in the last game of the day against Lakeshore in a wild contest that found the Cardinals’ holding a narrow 38-34 advantage at halftime. In the opening minutes of the second half Charlottesville stretched their lead to 8 points but Lakeshore repeatedly cut into the margin and while the Cardinals never relinquished the lead they could never extend it to double figures before claiming a 64-57 victory. Tom Vandever led Charlottesville scorers with 18, Arthur Tracy had 16, Brandon Rush added 12, and Chris Robinson, Jacob Tyree, and Eddie Wimbish contributed 6 points each. Lakeshore’s Ryan Hinze led all scorers with 34 points.
The Cardinals are currently 3-2 on the 2014-15 season and will face Lakeshore again Sunday morning in a reprise of today’s game.