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By Keagan Smith

Orange Leader

BRIDGE CITY – The Bridge City Cardinals stunned the Vidor Pirates at the buzzer 53-50 in a thrilling District 22-4A contest Friday night at Cardinal Gym.

After getting out to a quick start, the score was tied up 14-14 at the end of the first quarter. Bridge City (14-6, 5-2) started to pull ahead in the second and held a 36-31 lead at halftime.

In the third quarter both teams scored only 10 points each, leaving the Cardinals in the lead 41-36 entering the final quarter of play.

With two minutes left in the fourth quarter Vidor (2-13, 1-6) finally took their first lead of the second half.

Things weren’t over yet though- with less than one minute remaining, Bridge City’s Braylen Collins pulled down a crucial rebound before putting it back in the basket to tie things up 50-50. Vidor failed to fire back, giving the Cardinals one last possession with 10 seconds left in the game. As time expired BC’s Austin Richardson pulled up from near half-court and drained a game-winning three-pointer, securing a 53-50 victory for his team.

Richardson led Bridge City in scoring with 16 points plus 5 rebounds, while Grant Boudreaux was second with 12 points and 4 steals as well. Vidor’s leading scorer was Dayton Whitmire with 14 points and 8 boards. Nathan Bullard and Easton Walker tied for second in scoring with 11 points each.

The Cardinals will head to Orangefield Tuesday in another big Orange County battle while Vidor will take on Lumberton at home.