By Van Wade
The Orange Leader

WINNIE – Basketball season officially ended for Orange County Tuesday night in boys Class 4A bidistrict playoff action at East Chambers High School as both the Bridge City Cardinals and the Little
Cypress-Mauriceville Bears dropped playoff decisions.
The Cardinals, the third-place team out of District 24-4A, came all so close, falling to the Coldspring Trojans 57-54. The Trojans were runnerups in District 23-4A.
The Bears, the fourth-place team out of 2-4A, gave 23-4A champion Huffman a good game until the fourth quarter. The Falcons went on a 18-8 run in the final eight minutes to topple the Bears 62-49.
The Cardinals led 14-9 at the end of the first quarter only to see the Trojans go on a 25-13 lead in the second quarter as Coldspring grabbed a 34-27 edge at the half.
The Trojans led by as much as 11 in the third quarter but Cardinal Graydon Glover buried a three-pointer at the end of the quarter to trim it to 46-44 going to the fourth.
Bridge City tied it at 46-46 after two Glover free-throws early in the fourth.
Trojan post Red Gilbert finally gave his team a little wiggle-room when he flushed a dunk to give the Trojans a 54-50 edge.
BC’s Dane Piper was awarded a basket after a goal-tending call to trim it to 55-54. Gilbert, however, sealed it with 0:06 remaining when he buried two free-throws.
Coldspring guard Trey Cole torched the Cardinals for 26 points while also grabbing 10 rebounds.
Gilbert also finished with a double-double, scoring 16 points while grabbing 12 rebounds.
Coldspring dominated the Redbirds on the boards, finishing with a 41-20 rebounding edge. Guard Anthony Richard had nine points for the Trojans. Tunk Harrison had six points and seven boards while Jake Monroe had eight rebounds.
Glover, Piper and Justyn Romero each had 12 points to pace the balanced Cardinals while Ryan Mirabella had nine points by making three three-pointers.
Phillip Jacobs led the Cardinals with five rebounds while Romero had Hunter Wiegreffe pulled down four apiece with Wiegreffe also adding nine points.
The Cardinals made 12-of-22 from the free-throw line while the Trojans were just 9-of-17.
Both teams protected the ball well with each committing just nine turnovers.
The Trojans will move on to face Houston Wheatley in the area round.
The Bears kept it close for the longest against the Falcons despite getting in foul trouble.
LC-M collected 27 fouls while the Falcons had just 13.
Huffman led 13-10 at the end of the first quarter but the Bears rallied to take a 26-25 lead at intermission.
Huffman forward Noah Pendergrass took over in the second half, scoring 15 of his game-high 22 points in the second half.
Huffman post Antione Frazier finished with 15 points and six rebounds while Dillon Todd had 12 points and five boards.
Keegan Sonnier led LC-M with 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
Katon Brown tallied 15 points and snared a game-high nine rebounds.
The Bears finished with a 33-24 rebounding edge.
LC-M finished with 19 turnovers while the Falcons had 14.
Huffman went 16-of-25 from the free-throw line while the Bears were just 5-of-11.
The Falcons will move on to face Houston Sterling in the area round.