Cardinal boys lose state basketball bid to Elks

Read our "fair and balanced" report

By Tom Obert
Cub Reporter

First of all, I hope all of the Alex fans who attended this evening's game at Sauk Rapids will come home and say we want a high school just like that one! The difference between a 50-year old high school and a brand new one is quite striking!

Second of all, our Cards took on the mighty Elk River Elks, No. 1 seed in the section, at one time ranked No. 1 in the whole state, 25 - 3 record, beat Moorhead 92-66 in the semi-finals, and it appeared that everyone, including the refs, were expecting some sort of coronation.
Our Cards were having none of that, however, and took a 30-25 lead into the locker room at half time.

Unfortunately, the consensus among we fans is that it should have been at least a 15 point lead - we played that much better than they did. But Alex has a penchant for committing unforced turnovers and "allegedly" committed seven fouls in the half to only one for the Elks. The second half was similar to the first in that the Elks apparently were incapable of committing any fouls and never traveled despite often taking several steps without dribbling.
This is, of course, a totally unbiased opinion that was backed, at least on one or two occasions by Alex's head football coach, Denny Kalpin, who was sitting right in front of us and often helps Dave Harris broadcast the girls basketball games. Terrific defense by both teams made the game go right down to the wire, and Alex had a contested shot at the buzzer that would have won the game - but the game ended in regulation with a 53-all tie (40 points less for the Elks than in their previous game).

In overtime
Alex came out in the overtime and immediately scored the first 4 points - but as is so often the case when that happens, all the momentum then shifted to the Elks and the Cards couldn't score another point as we watched a parade of free throws by the Elks (our whole front line I believe had 4 fouls each) led to a 63-57 victory for the opposition. The Elk fans stormed the court like they had just won the state tournament - we believe mostly out of a sense of relief as Alex appeared to be the better team for most of the game.

So our guys gave it a heckuva run, and we're quite proud of them.

Next up: Girl's softball - and the boy's golf team should be dynamite.