The North Clay Cardinals made their annual trek north to Dieterich for the 2008 Dieterich Holiday Tournament last Friday afternoon and were the number four seed.
Their first game of the tourney was against the number five seed Red Hill Salukis.
North Clay held a slim first quarter lead, 14-13, thanks to six points each from Senior John Logan Zink and Junior Colton Bailey.
Senior Levi Bailey chipped in a single bucket to help give the Cardinals a one point lead after one quarter of play.
Colton Bailey continued his hot shooting in the second quarter with eight more points coming on a pair of three-pointers and a deuce.
Sophomore Micah Schnautz scored his four points of the game and Senior Center Joshua Yates wnt one of two from the free throw line.
Levi Bailey ended the first half with five points after dropping in a deuce and completing an old-fashioned three-point play.
North Clay led 30-26 at halftime and looked to win their opening game of the tournament.
Unfortunately, they had to play the second half.
Red Hill made adjustments in the third quarter and put up 22 points on the scoreboard, while keeping the Cardinals to just nine points.
Zink, Yates, Schnautz, and Colton Bailey each scored one single bucket with Schnautz hitting one of two from the free throw line.
Offensively, North Clay had a much better fourth quarter.
They put up 17 points, but were unable to keep the Salukis from scoring and eventually ran out of time as Red Hill won 62-56.
The loss by North Clay put them into the Consolation bracket of the Dieterich Holiday Tournament.
North Clay was pitted against Cowden-Herrick-Beecher City (CHBC)in their second game of the tournament and bounced back quite nicely with a 10-point win.
The Cardinals had balanced scoring with four players in double digits.
Sophomore Andrew Grahn led the charge with 16 points, 12 coming in the secondhalf.
North Clay led CHBC by one after the first quarter 10-9.
Levi Bailey and Grahn scored a pair of buckets with Yates adding his first two points of the game in the first quarter.
The number eight seeded CHBC was not going to go away easily.
They matched the Cardinals point for point in the second quarter and kept their deficit against North Clay to one by halftime.
Colton Bailey scored his first points of the night with five in the second frame.
Zink did the same with a pair of deuces, while Yates and Levi Bailey added to their totals with a single bucket each.
North Clay led 23-22 at the break and came out in the third quarter to extend their lead to three.
Grahn paced the Cardinals scoring with seven in the third quarter on three deuces and one free throw.
Zink and Yates each scored four third quarter points, while Levi Bailey added a single deuce.
Schnautz found his way into the scoring column in the third quarter by going one of two from the free throw line.
CHBC looked to pull the upset being only down three with one quarter to play.
The Cardinals turned on the heat in the fourth quarter and pulled away with good free throw shooting and timely baskets for the 10-point win.
Besides Grahns 16 points, Levi Bailey scored 12 points, Zink finished with 11 points and Yates ended with 10 points.
Colton Bailey, who scored 22 points in the tournament opener, was held to just five points by CHBC.
The win over CHBC put the Cardinals into the 3:30 p.m. game Monday against Arcola for fifth place.
The Cardinals did not play up to their potential against Arcola and had trouble rebounding which resulted in the Cardinals being handed a 48-40 loss.
North Clay controlled the opening tip and came away empty on their first possession.
Both teams struggled early to score and let one-and-a-half minutes go off the clock before Colton Bailey drove to the hoop for a bucket and gave the Cardinals a 2-0 lead.
A foul on Yates at the 4:18 allowed Arcola to take a one point lead after converting an old-fashioned three point play.
Yates made up for committing the foul by drawing a foul on Arcola and sinking two free throws to give North Clay the 4-3 lead.
Arcola took the lead back on their next possession, but it was quickly answered by the Cardinals with a Schnautz bucket at the 3:03 mark of the first quarter.
North Clay allowed Arcola to come back and take a 9-7 lead after the first quarter of play.
The game remained sloppy in the second quarter for the first minute-and-a-half, but Grahn changed things with a big three-pointer after a Yates deuce to give the Cardinals a three-point lead with 5:39 left in the first half.
Both teams then went into non-scoring mode and it caused North Clay Head Coach Brian Wattles to take a 30-second time-out with 3:18 on the clock.
The time-out worked as the Cardinals held Arcola empty on their first possession and answered with Grahn hitting his second three-pointer of the quarter to extend the Cardinals lead to six, 15-9.
Arcola put up back-to-back baskets to cut the North Clay lead to two.
A Levi Bailey free throw pushed the Cardinals lead to three, but Arcola answered to cut it back to one before the half ended.
North Clay went into the half holding on to a 16-15 lead.
The Purple Riders had possession of the basketball to start the second half in the fifth place game.
A defensive stop on Arcola’s opening possession of the third quarter allowed Levi Bailey to streak to the basket for a bucket and increase the Cardinals lead to three, 18-15.
Arcola scored back-to-back baskets and retook the lead, but the Cardinals came storming back with an offensive rebound and put back by Yates, then a baseline runner by Colton Bailey to regain their three-point advantage.
North Clay allowed Arcola to tie the game at 23 with 4:04 left in the third quarter.
The Purple Riders then went on an 11-5 run to end the third quarter and take a 34-28 lead.
North Clay could of been down more, but Colton Bailey banked a three-pointer from the top of the key in at the buzzer to cut the Cardinals deficit to six.
Arcola was able to increase their lead to as much as nine points in the fourth quarter, but the Cardinals fought back to cut their lead to four with 1:47 left in the game.
The Cardinals just ran out of time as Arcola handed the Cardinals their second and final loss of the tournament, 48-40.
North Clay returns to action on January 6, 2009 at Altamont.
