Cards fall to Wildcats in final regular season game
RANDOLPH — The Randolph Cardinals wrapped up their regular season with a 60-43 defeat against Hartington-Newcastle last week.
Randolph then entered postseason play at the D2-5 SubDistrict Tuesday at Wynot.
Collyn Beal, playing in his final home game as a member of the Randolph team, went for 21 points and 10 rebounds and Jacob Calder added eight points.
“We played well early, but a rash of turnovers in the second quarter led to 21 Hartington points in the second quarter,” said Randolph Coach Jim Hixson. “We had a nice fourth quarter with 20 points, but the lead was too much to overcome.
Hartington-Newcastle shot 50 percent from the field in large part because of 21 Randolph turnovers
“Those led to too many easy points,” Hixson said.
Beal is happy that, despite the record, the Cardinals’ play since the New Year has trended upward.”
“I could tell we were getting better,” Beal said. “It’s nice to see that movement from the start of the year. We got killed by Winside (in the beginning) and then beat them by 10, so that was nice. Our two sophomores who play a lot, we finally learned how they play and that made it easier to move the ball.”
The SubDistrict host No. 1 seeded Blue Devils (20-2) took on the No. 4 Cardinals in a semifinal game Tuesday, while Wausa and Winside duked it out on the other half of the draw.
Prior to the game, Coach Hixson outlined his game plan.
“As always, we will have to limit our turnovers to have a shot at the upset,” Hixson said. “I always tell the boys that we just need to continue to play hard and hang tough to give ourselves a chance at a victory.”
Senior Collyn Beal admitted Wynot would be a big challenge for the Cardinals, but the attitude is to bring their ‘A’ game and let the chips fall where they may.
“We will focus up a lot and practice hard,” Beal said. “We will have to cut turnovers down. (Against Hartington) we had 13 turnovers in the first half and we haven’t done that in about 12 games. We have to pass the ball and we’re going to have to give it all we got.
“We will go in there to win. We are playing our best and doing well. We know we aren’t the best team, but we will give them a good enough fight to scare them a little bit. We are always overlooked.”
Hartington-Newcastle 10 21 18 11 — 60
Randolph 9 7 7 20 — 43
SCORING HNS – Jake Peitz, 24; Bennet Sievers, 17; Lane Heimes, 4; Reece Morten, 4; Seth Pinkelman, 4; Riley Sudbeck, 3; Sam Pinkelman, 2; Dayton Sudbeck, 2. Randolph – Collyn Beal, 21; Jacob Calder, 8; Tom Korth, 6; Bryson Eledge, 4; Jake Harder, 2; Brayden Shearer, 2.
REBOUNDS HNS – Riley Sudbeck, 6; Turner Dendinger, 5; Jake Peitz, 5; Seth Pinkelman, 5; Dayton Sudbeck, 3; Bennet Sievers, 2; Cole Heimes, 1; Lane Heimes, 1. Randolph – Collyn Beal, 10; Tom Korth, 5; Jacob Calder, 4; Jake Harder, 4; Isaiah Salmon, 2; Brayden Shearer, 1.
ASSISTS HNS – Jake Peitz, 4; Bennet Sievers, 4; Seth Pinkelman, 3; Riley Sudbeck, 3; Turner Dendinger, 2; Lane Heimes, 2; Dayton Sudbeck, 2. Randolph – Tom Korth, 2; Jacob Calder, 1.
STEALS HNS – Jake Peitz, 8; Bennet Sievers, 5; Seth Pinkelman, 3; Dayton Sudbeck, 3; Lane Heimes, 1; Reece Morten, 1; Riley Sudbeck, 1. Randolph – Jacob Calder, 2; Jake Harder, 1.
BLOCKS HNS – Bennet Sievers, 1. Randolph – Collyn Beal, 1.
