Correspondent Photo / Lowell Spencer The Cardinal Mooney team poses with the district championship trophy after defeating South Range.
SALEM — The South Range Raiders have participated in the Salem Boys District Tournament four times, but have never won a district crown. Meanwhile, the Cardinal Mooney Cardinals have won the Salem Tournament twice in the past three years.
The fourth-seeded Cardinals defeated the Raiders 84-59 to win their third district championship in the past four years and once again show why they have been so successful in Salem. With the win, they improve to 21-5 on the year and will play Canton Central Catholic on Wednesday night at Canton Memorial Fieldhouse.Tipoff is set for 8 p.m.
“This was very important to us. We've been talking about this for over a year.” Cardinals senior guard Ashton O'Brien said. “We wanted to come back here and get a win. Our players are very tough, so we worked hard for this. I'm really happy to be able to come back and win.”
“I’m really happy because of my seniors.” Cardinals head coach Carey Palermo added: “They've been talking about this for the past 365 days. This has been a goal since the summer and we've been striving for it. I'm so proud of them.”
With this loss, the Raiders finished the season with an impressive record of 18 wins and 7 losses. It will also be the second year in a row that the Raiders will advance to the district championship game after losing to Lutheran West in Warren last year.
“Our 18-win season was one of the best in school history. We had a couple of 20-win seasons. By making it to the district finals, we wanted to take a different path this year and play well. We gave ourselves a chance to win.” Said Raiders head coach Pat Carden.
The Cardinals' winning formula this year is stifling defense and a steady, confident outside shooter who lights up the scoreboard with his 3-pointers. The scheme took a little while to get going against the reeling Raiders, but they found their groove as the game wore on.
“They care about each other.” Palermo said. “They spend a lot of time together outside of basketball. They're selfish.”
O'Brien led the Cardinals' scorebook with 27 points. Rocco Turner added 17 points, Ghibli Carter added 16 points and Eddie Nieves added 14 points. O'Brien also grabbed six rebounds and paced the Cardinals.
The Raiders came out strong to start the contest and showed why they can be district finalists. Following a basket and three from Landon Moore, the Raiders took a 16-7 lead at the 2:51 mark of the first quarter. However, the Cardinals appeared to start regaining momentum in the final stages, going on a 10-2 run to close the gap to two points at 20-18.
“They (South Range) are a really good team. They were hitting shots and we knew they were tough. We just needed to keep playing hard. And that’s what we did.” O'Brien said.
Following an O'Brien three and a basket by Eddie Nieves, the Cardinals took a 22-20 lead at the 6:15 mark of the second period. The teams traded baskets until late in the second half when Dylan Turvey hit a jumper to give South Range a 30-29 lead. The Cardinals fought back with a Will Desmond three and a last-second layup to give the Cardinals a 34-32 lead at halftime.
“We talked about the 50-50 ball and toughness. That's the foundation of our team.” Coach O'Brien said this about his halftime message. “We knew if we played with grit, we could win in the second half.”
Both teams battled hard in the first half, but the Cardinals began to take control in the second half. Rocco Turner hit a 3 at 5:26 of the third period, giving the Cardinals a 10-2 run to start the first half.
Luke Rohan almost single-handedly got the Raiders back in the game, connecting on three treys in the third quarter to help the Raiders cut the lead to four points at 3:30 of the frame, 49-45. The Cardinals gradually increased their advantage as the quarter ended and held a 60-50 lead by the end of the period.
“They (South Range) are a great basketball team. They're well-coached.” Palermo said. “Rand Moore, (Dylan) Turvey, (Luke) Lohan, those three key players are great. They were a little sluggish, especially in the first half.”
Lohan led the Raiders with 25 points in the game, followed by Moore with 21 points. Moore's 21 points totaled 521 points, breaking the South Range single-season scoring record. Turvey led the Raiders with eight rebounds.
Back-to-back threes from O'Brien and Turner increased the Cardinals' advantage to 15, 69-54, at the 4:38 mark of the fourth quarter. They finished the contest on a 15-5 run, winning by the final 25 points.
“I kind of ran out of gas at the end.” Carden said. “We ran right away. At the end of the third quarter, we were down by four points with about 45 seconds left. But they did everything in the second half.”
The Cardinals already played Canton Central Catholic in the regular season, so both teams are familiar with each other. The Cardinals won the first meeting in late January, 61-52.
“We're going to have to defend them better than we did during the regular season.” Palermo said of the rematch. “The game was a lot closer than the score suggests, so they'll be ready to play us. We're going to do what we have to do.”
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