HERMLEIGH — A quick start led the Hermleigh Cardinals to a 50-40 win over Westbrook in a District 12-1A basketball game at Cardinal Gym Tuesday.
The Cardinals (10-10, 4-2) remained tied for second place with Ira.
Hermleigh scored the game’s first eight points and led 10-2 midway through the opening quarter. Field goals by Chase Carr and Justin Wilson helped Hermleigh build a 16-5 lead going into the second quarter.
The Cardinals increased the lead to 26-5 in the second quarter and took a 35-14 lead into halftime.
Hermleigh’s lead was cut to 48-32 by the end of the third quarter. Westbrook scored five unanswered points at the start of the fourth quarter, but could not overcome the deficit.
“We came out fast and had our best shooting first quarter of the season,” Hermleigh head coach Sam Winters said. “We had everything clicking and dictated the game at our pace. We kept pushing the ball and took good shots. The fourth quarter was an adventure. Westbrook deserves credit for doing some good things and never quit. We couldn’t put them away.”
Chase Carr led the Cardinals with a game-high 13 points. Dylan Sorrells had 12 points, including three 3-pointers. Eli Garza and Matt Gonzalez each scored eight points.
“We got a little lazy and they fought back,” Winters said. “We ran the clock during the fourth quarter. We kept the double-digit lead. We ran our new plays and worked some of the bugs out. The new plays helped us to come out firing at the beginning of the game.”
Rowdy Morris scored 11 points for Westbrook.
Hermleigh will play at district leader Borden County Friday before hosting Ira on Tuesday. The Cardinals will conclude the season with home games against Highland and Loraine.
“We had our backs to the wall coming into this game with the loss at Westbrook earlier in the season,” Winters said. “We can breath a little bit now, but we have a tough stretch of games coming.”
Westbrook 5 10 17 8—40
Hermleigh 16 19 13 2—50
Hermleigh scorers — Chase Carr 13, Dylan Sorrells 12, Eli Garza 8, Matt Gonzalez 8, Kelton Carroll 6, Justin Wilson 2, Geraro Olivera 1.
JV
The Hermeigh JV team defeated Westbrook, 28-24.
Blake Hancock and Preston Carr each scored eight points. Cody Smith had six points.
Hermleigh scorers — Blake Hancock 8, Preston Carr 8, Cody Smith 6, Cameron Clement 4, Luis Gonzales 2.