The 2023-24 winter season has found the Huskies in an unusual position.
Game photos from Cardinal vs. Py Valley seen here.
The 2023-24 winter season has found the Huskies in an unusual position.
A team that finished 15-9 overall and 8-2 in the CVC Valley has found itself having a difficult start to the season. Cardinal entered the contest against Garrettsville Dec. 28 with a 0-5 record, but wasn’t leading entering the fourth quarter.
“We are very young,” senior guard Troy Domen said. “The players on varsity have never had a lead going into the fourth quarter, so to win tonight’s game, I think we needed to remind ourselves to calm down and take a deep breath. We are winning and not giving the lead up by doing something incorrectly.”
Behind first-year head coach Kyle Deckerd, the Huskies led 17-7 after one quarter behind Domen’s 12 points.
Domen connected on two of three threes in the opening quarter, and continued his hot shooting in a spectacular senior season in which he has averaged just under 20.0 points per game and notched his 1,000th career point Dec. 20 against Crestwood.
“Scoring my 1,000th career point definitely humbled me,” he said. “Of all the work that I have put into it, and this accomplishment wasn’t given to me. I hope that all these younger kids see me and all of the teammates that I have played with; I hope that we can get these younger kids playing the game of basketball every day. I hope that they get better and we continuously have a good basketball program.”
That 1,000th career point had been a monkey on Domen’s back to start the season, a load he’s had to carry with a younger team.
“I needed to adapt to this year’s team a little more,” he said. “There were teammates that were around me that I have been playing with for 10 years or more, and I’ve had so much chemistry with them. So to go and play with this year’s group has been a great experience, but getting to know everyone and their style of game has been the toughest challenge to overcome.”
Behind Domen’s 33-point performance against Garrettsville, Cardinal was able to sneak away with a 62-55 win. Going into halftime, the Huskies had a 31-17 lead.
Garrettsville’s Preston Gedeon started to heat up for a big second half. The senior scored a team-high 25 points and almost led his team to a comeback win.
A late G-Men run put them in good position as they trailed 57-50 with 34 seconds remaining.
Gedeon connected on a three, pulling his team within three with 34 seconds on the clock, and sophomore Landon Gallagher knocked down one out of two free throws, making it a two-possession game.
With 28 seconds remaining, Gedeon split a pair of free throws, and his team still trailed by three, 58-55. Then a foul committed by the G-Men put junior point guard Cal Ciminello at the line. He would ice the game with two made free throws, helping his team to victory.
Final score was 62-55, the Huskies first win of the 2023-24 season.
Ciminello finished with seven points, none more important than the two free throws with seconds remaining in the contest. Gallagher also finished with seven points, and junior Dominic Naples. Juniors Chuck Soltis and Austin Jones finished with five and three points, respectively.
Junior Aidan Hill and Vince Yukich each added eight points for the G-Men, who were seeking their second win in a row. Nick Edic added seven.
