By Caleb Adams

Leader Correspondent

 

BRIDGE CITY — The Bridge City Cardinals lost to the top-ranked Silsbee Tigers 94-60 in District 22-4A action at Cardinal Friday night.

Silsbee jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, never allowing more than 20 points scored for the Cards in a quarter.

The Tigers (21-5, 5-0) are widely considered the best team in the state of Texas in their division, and they showed why, with their quickness and athleticism as a team, and their chemistry was something to see.

The Cardinals (12-9, 2-3) knew that coming in, but it didn’t make them play any softer, in fact they played the toughest they had probably all year, fighting for every loose ball and driving the lanes the best they could.

Devin McCain led the Tigers in scoring with 13 points, six coming in the fourth quarter. All but three of the thirteen Tigers scored during the game.

Hunter Weigraffe and Max Baker for the lead the Cardinals with 12 points apiece, most of which came in the second half for both the players.

The Tigers bench played a big role in the win, putting up 43 points total, while the Cardinals bench put up 19 total.

Silsbee came out from the first second in a urgent fashion, putting up 26 points in the first quarter. That isn’t the biggest part for the Tigers though, their defense was strong and always in the face of every Cardinal player. They played full-man press the entirety of the game forcing multiple turnovers every chance they got. The Tigers lead 26-13 to end the first quarter and never looked back.

The second quarter started as the first quarter ended, in the favor of Silsbee and moving very fast. The end of the first half score was 52-21, with the Tigers scoring another 26 points and the Cardinals only putting up eight through the quarter.

The second half was much of the same story for the first few minutes, but Bridge City’s head coach Larry Sterling put a fire into his team. They played with an edge they didn’t have during the first half and kept battling. They fought for every lose ball, foul call, anything to try and bring this game closer, forcing Silsbee to play out the game instead of just running out the time. The third quarter ended with the score 76-40.

By the fourth quarter both crowds were into the game as if the game was only a possession away from Bridge City taking the lead. With the full court press on since the first quarter Silsbee forced Bridge City to fight just to get across half court but the Cardinals continued to play hard.

The Cardinals will head to LC-M Tuesday while Silsbee welcomes Orangefield.