Cardinals Sweep Double-Header
Oct 14, 2012
CHARLOTTESVILLE–The Charlottesville Cardinals notched two tough wins against their rival Charlotte Rollin’ Bobcats in a wild afternoon of basketball this past Saturday at Walker Middle School.
In the opening game of the twin bill the Cardinals used a tough man-to-man defense in the first half to take a 25-21 edge at the intermission. Playing without top-scorer Mike Looney Charlottesville was forced to turn to other weapons in their repertoire to generate offensive firepower.
Early in the second half the Cardinals expanded their lead behind 13 second half points from Chris Robinson and ten points from Tom Vandever as the Charlottesville margin ballooned from a 32-25 advantage with 15 minutes to play to a final victory tally of 59-41. Tom Vandever led Cardinals’ scorers with 20 points and Chris Robinson contributed 15 in the win. Charlotte’s Mike Hudson led all scorers with 21 points.
After a brief rest the two teams tangled again and this time Charlotte’s methodical attack paid benefits as they kept the offensive pressure on the errant Cardinals’ shooters. After a sloppy half of missed shots and turnovers Charlottesville finally resorted to its press to increase the game tempo and managed a narrow 24-22 lead at the break.
The Cardinals padded their lead over first ten minutes of the second half and posted 48-42 margin with eight minutes to play, but Charlotte’s Andrew Grossman hit two successive three-pointers to erase Charlottesville’s edge and tied the game with seven minutes to play.
The Bobcats then went on a 6-1 run over the next five minutes to take the lead at 54-49 with 1:58 left in the contest. The Cardinals defense clamped down and three consecutive baskets by Eddie Wimbish, Tom Vandever, and Brandon Rush put the Cardinals up by one at 55-54 with eight seconds to play. Charlotte couldn’t convert and the Cardinals claimed their second win of the afternoon. The Cardinals’ Tom Vandever led all scorers with 20 points, followed by Brandon Rush and Chris Robinson with 10 apiece.
The 14-ranked Cardinals are now 3-0 on the season and will travel to Atlanta the weekend of November 2-4 to compete in the Shepherd Shoot-out Tournament.
Box Scores
Game 1:
Charlottesville 59
- Chris Robinson 15
- Eddie Wimbish 7
- James Cook 0
- Tom Vandever 20
- Arthur Tracy 8
- Brandon Rush 9
Charlotte 41
- Tim Caldwell 2
- Jeremy Smith 2
- Andrea Woodson-Smith 10
- Andrew Grossman 6
- Trey Bates 0
- Jimmy Bruce 0
- Mike Hudson 21
Game 2:
Charlottesville 55
- Chris Robinson 10
- Eddie Wimbish 6
- James Cook 0
- Tom Vandever 20
- Arthur Tracy 9
- Brandon Rush 10
Charlotte 54
- Tim Caldwell 0
- Jeremy Smith 11
- Andrea Woodson-Smith 12
- Andrew Grossman 12
- Trey Bates 12
- Jimmy Bruce 2
- Mike Hudson 5