The 20th-ranked Cardinals took care of business in their home finale Saturday afternoon, putting away the Paris Junior College Dragons for a 74-62 win.
With one game remaining, the win keeps the Cardinals (23-6) in the running for the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Region XIV Tournament. The Cardinals, already assured of a bye in the first round of the event March 12-16 at Tyler Junior College, can wrap up the runner-up seed with a win Wednesday at Carthage against Panola. Otherwise, they would be the No. 3 seed.
The win against Paris, which fell to 16-13 and 8-10 marks, was tightly contested early on. The score was tied 9-9 at the 13:54 mark. By halftime, the Cardinal had opened to a 32-24 advantage.
A fast start to the second half sent the Cardinals soaring to a 51-27 advantage.
The Cardinals did a tremendous job defensively on Damondre McKnight, the top Paris scoring threat who had lit the Cardinals up for 31 points in the first meeting between the two teams. His every move was stalked by either Braden Wood or Denim Johnson, resulting McKnight getting just two points in the first half. He was held scoreless until the 9:34 mark of the second half. He finished with 13 points.
The Cardinals were led by Ahamad Bynum, Garrett Nuckolls and Wood with 12 points each. Devyn Franklin had 10.
Nuckolls had three three-pointers.
Mouhamadou Cisse led the Cardinals with 10 rebounds.
