A standing room only crowd witnessed two of the top boys' basketball teams in the area go toe-to-toe Friday night in Staples.

 

Playing their final game of the regular season on a night that also saw the Staples-Motley basketball boosters recognize parents, seniors and dedicated fans, the Cardinals defeated Sebeka 69-66.

 

"We didn't make big shots or plays and they did," explained Trojans' head coach Jon Lillquist.  "Derek Wolhowe had just an outstanding game and he made a tremendous difference."

 

Wolhowe buried four three-pointers and scored 18 first-half points before finishing the night with a game-high 29.

 

"The big difference in the game was shooting," Lillquist explained.  "They shot the ball really well outside, inside and at the freethrow line."

 

The Cardinals shot 44 percent overall (23-52), including 8-of-16 (50%) from outside the arc and were 15-for-18 from the freethrow line.

 

"We shot okay inside, but not outside (6-23) and needed to shoot a little better on freethrows (12-20)," added Lillquist.

 

Staples-Motley scored the first points of the game, but the Trojan went ahead 5-2 and 8-4 thanks in part to some early success at the charity stripe.  The Cardinals battled back to tie the game at 10-10 and 13-13.

 

After a Sebeka basket made the score 15-13, the Cardinals ripped off nine straight points to take a 22-15 lead.  Staples-Motley led by as much as 13 points (37-24) in the first half.  The Trojans scored the final points of the half, including a half-court three-pointer by Ryan Sharp at the buzzer to trim the margin to 37-29.

 

Sebeka scored the first four points of the second half to complete a nine-point run and cut the lead down to 37-33.  With the Cardinals ahead 43-38, Staples-Motley scored eight consecutive points to push the advantage to 51-38.  The Cards took their largest lead of the game (55-40) just a few minutes later.

 

With Staples-Motley looking like it was about to pull away even more, the Trojans began to come back.

 

Sebeka trimmed the lead down to singles digits at 61-54 with about 2:30 left to play.  The Trojans got to within four points at 64-60, but the Cardinals wouldn't falter and pushed their advantage back up to 69-63 before Sharp hit his second buzzer-beating three-pointer of the night to make the final score 69-66.

 

"We needed to play better down the stretch," Lillquist stated.  "It was a good experience for us though to go in that tough environment where you have everything going against you and battle through it. We came up a little short but we never stopped fighting."

 

The loss snapped Sebeka's 22-game winning streak.

 

Jordan Riewer added 16 points, eight rebounds and six assists for the Cardinals.  Jason Johnson scored nine and Gunner Johnson came off the bench to get six points.

 

Joey Cuperus led the Trojans with 18 points.  He also grabbed eight boards.  Sharp finished with a double-double (15 points/11 rebounds), while John Clark scored 13 points and Cody Pulju added 12.  Alex Brockpahler led Sebeka with six assists.