Off a tight contested 54-57 loss on the road at Knob Noster to open the season, Cardinals basketball found a way to bounce back this week, making some noise and taking 3rd place in the 90th Annual Warsaw Boys Invitational Basketball Tournament.
After heading home from Knob Noster last week, the team had almost a week to prepare for the tournament, and it showed Tuesday night when the 5th seeded Cardinals kicked off the tournament with a 63-53 win against 4th seeded Butler to begin tournament play. The team, active on the boards, handed the Bears their first loss of the season with the win, punching their ticket to semi-final matchup against the top seeded Lincoln Cardinals on Thursday night.
Unfortunately for the Clinton, Lincoln was the Cardinals team to fly out of the matchup with the win, knocking Clinton out of championship contention by a 9-point margin, 58-49.
Dropping down the bracket with the loss, Clinton once again looked to bounce back, this time in a battle the 3rd seeded Weaubleau Tigers.
With the bronze stage set, Clinton entered the Saturday matchup both seeking their second upset of the tournament and to clinch 3rd place honors. The outcome? A strong 56-49 win, earning the Cardinals 3rd place and bringing the team to 2-2 on the young season.
The Lady Cardinals also found success in Warsaw in the 35th annual event on the girls side.
They opened up the tournament with a dominating performance over the Lincoln Lady Cardinals, 64-6 on Monday night. They then defeated the Knob Noster Lady Panthers, 48-29 in the semifinals before falling to the Skyline Lady Tigers, a perennial Class 1 powerhouse, in the championship, 59-40.
A strong start to the season for the Cardinals, who will look to get one up on their .500 record through four games in their home-opener against Tipton this week.
