Cards settle for second at Gator Invitational

Clawing their way through the bottom half of the bracket eventually took its toll on the St. Charles College Cardinals boys basketball team, falling in the championship final of the Gator Invitational this weekend by a score of 64-48 to the Horizon Aigles.

With Horizon playing only their third game of the weekend, versus double that many for the Cards, the Aigles were able to build up a sizable early lead, ahead 33-18 by the half.

A half-court press that produced a good number of steals allowed St. Charles to close the gap to just seven points, before Horizon pulled away at the end, led by the inside-outside punch of Martin Mrochek and Michel Ayotte.

Shooting from the perimeter, Mrochek paced the Aigles' attack with 26 points, while Ayotte, who towered above every player on the court, picked up 20 points of his own, almost all in the paint.

Matt Bell (14) and Brad Mackenzie (12) topped the scoring parade for the Cards, with Tyger Louie providing much of the spark for the second-half run by virtue of his tenacious effort on defence.

St. Charles College would not walk away empty-handed as the junior Cardinals bounced the Lo-Ellen Park Knights 60-38, with Gage Louis dominating in the opening half, netting 16 of his 20 points.

Teammate Justin Savard led all scorers with 22 points for St. Charles, with Gregory Trudeau-Paquet adding 10, while Caleb Dahmer (15) and Alekh Sokhal (12) powered much of the Knights' offence.

Regular season play continues within the SDSSAA boys basketball ranks, with no less than 19 games on the schedule between Monday and Thursday. Full schedule details can be obtained at scorecrazy.com.