PHILADELPHIA, PA–A very short-handed Charlottesville Cardinals wheelchair basketball squad pulled off a close win tonight at the Carousel House Tournament, winning a squeaker 46-44 against the New Jersey Keystone Royals.
With only six players able to make the trip to Philadelphia, the Cardinals piled out of their cars after the 300 mile drive and immediately took the court. The Keystone team wasted no time in building a 16 point lead after 14 minutes of play before the road-weary Cardinals finally began to settle in.
Trailing 22-10 at the half, Charlottesville shooters finally started to find the basket and gradually chipped away at the Keystone lead. With just over a minute to play, the Cardinals’ Brandon Rush drained a three-pointer to tie the game at 44-all, and with six seconds remaining Charlottesville rebounded a Keystone miss and the Cardinals’ Joey Leavitt raced up the court for a layup with 0.7 seconds on the clock to give Charlottesville its first lead of the game and the victory.
Tom Vandever led all scorers with 20 points, followed by Brandon Rush with 17, Jacob Tyree with 5, Joey Leavitt with 4, and Allen Champagne with 2. Keystone’s Chris Kile finished with 16 points.
With the win the 11th-ranked Cardinals are 19-9 on the season. Charlottesville will face the #3 New York Rollin’ Knicks Saturday morning.