By Caleb Adams

Leader Correspondent

 

BRIDGE CITY — The Class 4A defending state champions Silsbee Tigers toppled the Bridge City Cardinals 92-69 at Cardinal Gym on Tuesday night, in what was a five-point game heading into the half, and then the state champs just turned it on in the third quarter with 32 points to zip to the victory.

Silsbee (23-8) wraps up the District 22-4A season with a perfect 10-0 mark while the Cardinals (10-17, 3-7) will have to take on the Orangefield Bobcats (16-16, 3-7) for the fourth-place playoff seed later this week.

The Tigers had two outstanding players in guard Bralon Bush, who put up 28 points in the game and forward Jordyn Adams had 21, as they helped carry the team in their win.

Beau Martin led the Cardinals with 16 points on the night, mostly coming in the fourth quarter of play, and Hunter Wiegreffe filtered in 12.

Even though the scoreboard was is in favor of Silsbee by a lot, the Cardinals played some of their best basketball all season long, and gives a solid sign moving forward in their big game coming up against the Bobcats.

After the first quarter of play the Cardinals were only down four points behind the offensive push from Caleb Honeycutt, who had six points in the quarter. The Tigers were up 22-18 after one. For Silsbee, their shots hadn’t started to fall, but still the Tigers found points in the paint.

The Cardinals were able to keep the game close, making the Tigers sweat a little more than intended coming into this game. The Cardinals were playing above their own play and able to keep up with the Tigers for the time being as the Tigers held a slim 42-37 edge at intermission.

The Cardinals came into tonight trying to upset the balance and beat the formidable Tigers in hopes of securing their playoff seed. The Tigers, on the other hand, had thought of closing a strong 22-4A season and wanted to add to it some more with this game.

The Tigers went into the third quarter with a vengeance as they went up 20-plus points mid-way through the third quarter, and just looked like a totally different team than the first half. Bush found his shot, suffice to say, with 19 points heading into the fourth quarter. The Cardinals’ leading scorer up to that point and the only one on the team in double digits before the fourth quarter was Honeycutt at 10 as the Tigers led 74-47 after three periods of play.

In what was a close and thrilling first half, the fourth quarter was all but decided. The Tigers win 9 2-69 against the Cardinals and lock up the first seed in the district.

The Cardinals will now play the Orangefield Bobcats in a tie-breaker to decide the fourth seed of the district at site to be determined later this week, while the Tigers are set for a deep playoff run.