Colerain Boys Continue Hot Streak With Win Over Middletown!

Al Gabriel
WeAreColerain.com

In a game that saw four ties and nine lead changes the Colerain Cardinals showed both physical and mental toughness in holding on for a 47-44 win at home over the Middletown Middies on Friday night. Marcus Monteiro lead the Cardinals with 12 points including two crucial free throws with 4.9 seconds remaining (in a 1 & 1 situation) that forced Middletown to hurry a long three point shot at the buzzer that never found the rim. A jubulant Colerain team mobbed each other at mid-court at the final buzzer and, after the team handshake, were joined by a good sized student section that made its voice heard on this night.
"We subbed a lot tonight...When we press and run it wears on teams" said coach Kevin Higgins who's team moves to 8-1 overall and 4-1 in the GMC. Indeed, the Cardinals had 9 players play over 7 minutes of game time and ran players in and out in the first half the way a hockey team changes lines.
When asked if this win helped to validate his statement in his exclusive pre-season interview with WeAreColerain.com that Colerain should compete of the top half of the GMC and coach Higgins was not at a loss for words. "I don't know about validate, but it is certainly the biggest win we've had in three years here. But this is a tough league and tonight doesn't mean a whole lot if we lose our focus. There's still 13 games (GMC) left. So, we'll see."
The game looked like it could get out of hand in the second quarter for the Cardinals. After playing nearly even through out the first eight minutes of the game the Middies lead 9-8 but extended it to 16-8 with a 7-0 run to open the second quarter. But Elisha Campbell sparked a 14-5 run to end the half when he was fouled while making a driving layup and converted the free throw to bring Colerain to within 5 at 16-11. Colerain would lead 22-21 at the break. Middletown came out hot in the second half behind the three point shooting (4-8) of Mikey Brown (17pts to lead all scorers) but Colerain wouldn't let the Middies pull away from them and finally regained the lead at the end of the third quarter when Monteiro burried a 3 from the left wing as the buzzer sounded giving Colerain the advantage at 33-32.
With the game tied late in the 4th Bam Harrison deflected a ball at mid-court and it was picked up by Senior Ken Kunkel who drove uncontested to the basket for a one handed slam that electrified the Colerain crowd. Moments later Senior, Ben Vondarhaar, hit a spinning jump hook that touched nothing but net from 12 feet out giving Colerain a 41-37 lead that it would not relinquish.

WE ARE...COLERAIN!