BRIDGE CITY — After a sluggish first half, the Bridge City Cardinals amped it up in the final 16 minutes of play to blow past the Port Neches-Groves Indians 52-39 at Cardinal Gym Tuesday night.

After a tough shooting first half, the Cardinals found themselves down 20-17 at intermission.

However, the Redbirds turned up their intensity on both ends of the gym in the third quarter and the Indians had no answer as they watched Bridge City erupt on a 20-4 spurt.

Cardinal forward Hunter Wiegreffe and guard Brandon Vela ignited the big run as they combined for 14 points in the quarter to help Bridge City coast into the fourth quarter with a 37-24 edge.

The Cardinals led by as much as 49-28 midway through the third period until Indian Trent Lee got hot in the final minutes, scoring all 11 of his team-high points in the quarter as he sank three three-pointers.

Vela paced three Cardinals in double figures, scoring a game-high 14 points while snagging six rebounds. Wiegreffe filtered in 12 points and snared eight rebounds. Guard Max Baker came off the bench to tally 10 points, six coming in the fourth quarter and he also grabbed five rebounds.

The Cardinals dominated the Indians on the boards, finishing with a 37-25 rebounding edge. Bridge City held a 18-5 rebounding edge in the second half.

Forward Justin Romero contributed six points and eight boards for the Cardinals while center Dane Piper contributed four points and seven boards.

Derrick Papa had nine points and five rebounds for the Indians. Haden Wiggins chimed in with seven points and five rebounds while Hunter Curtis added five rebounds.

The Indians finished with 16 turnovers while the Cardinals had 15.

Bridge City did struggle from the charity stripe, going just 9-of-19 from the free-throw line while the Indians were 5-of-9.