STEELVILLE — Steelville’s High School boy’s basketball teams continued its almost two-month stretch of games on the road and played a pair of games on Dec. 9 and Dec. 13 in Sullivan and West County, respectively.

Steelville defeated Sullivan before losing a close game against West County. Both games are detailed below. The Cardinals then played at Valley on Dec. 16, which will be detailed in next week’s edition. Steelville will play at Aurora at 2 p.m. on Dec. 20 before competing in the 70th Annual Bob Sechrest Jr. Central Christmas Tournament beginning on Dec. 26 in Park Hills. Specific dates and opponents for the tournament are TBD, and will be updated in next week’s edition.

Dec. 9 vs. Sullivan

The Cardinals’ freshman, JV and varsity teams all competed on Dec. 9 in Sullivan. Steelville’s freshman won 26-21, JV fell 50-37 before the varsity team used a dominant third quarter to propel them to their second win of the season. The Cardinals have won both games against Sullivan, who they also played on Dec. 3 in the FCNB Bank-It Tournament.

The Cardinals’ varsity team (2-4) led from the jump, and got out to a 19-8 advantage after the first quarter. Malakai Bruno scored 10 of his team-high 14 points in the frame to set the tone for Steelville. The second quarter was tight and the Eagles outscored the Cardinals 10-9 as Steelville went into halftime up 28-18.

Steelville then came out inspired after head coach Josh Pritchett’s halftime speech where he said he implored his team to up their intensity and physical play.

“We talked about how we needed to be physically dominant and start being more aggressive with our ball pressure,” Pritchett said. “The guys bought into it and were able to turn up the level of intensity on defense.”

The Cardinals bought into Pritchett’s message and dominated the third quarter, outscoring Sullivan 26-8 in the frame. The Cardinals never looked back on their way to a 62-41 victory over the Eagles.

Numerous Cardinals broke out in the second half after slow starts. Jackson Woods scored eight of his 10 points in the back half of the game. Landon Rutledge scored seven of his nine points in the second half, Hunter Starbeck scored all seven of his points in the final two quarters and Blaze Alexander scored all five of his points in the third quarter. Nate Gambill knocked down a pair of shots from deep to finish with six points. Chace Grayson also added six. Will Bailey knocked down three from the charity stripe for all of his points and Trentin Garrison scored two to round out the scoring for the Cardinals.

Steelville held Sullivan star Peyton Malady to four points on all free throws in the first half. Malady finished with 18 points. Malady was coming off a Dec. 5 game against Cuba in which he scored 34 points.

Dec. 13 vs. West County

The Cardinals found themselves in a close back-and-forth game against the Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon. Steelville trailed 21-14 after the first quarter, but the seven-point deficit was as high as it would get all game. The Cardinals fought back in the second quarter to trim the gap to three, as they headed into halftime down 27-24. Steelville used a strong 14 point third quarter to make it a one-point game, as they went into the fourth quarter down 39-38. The game ended up coming down to a one-possession game, but the Cardinals fell short and ended the afternoon with a 50-47 loss.

Woods topped the Steelville score sheet with 15 points and knocked down two shots from beyond the three-point line. Bruno also made a pair from downtown and hit four free throws to finish with 10. Garrison scored all eight of his points in the second half and Gambill scored five on a trey and a two-point basket. Bailey chipped in four, Starbeck scored three and Rutledge added two for the Cardinals.