Cardinals sweep Falcons
~February 5, 2008~
By George Kaupp

Photo by Jim Marczesky Cardinal Newman's Trey Coleman guards Ben Lippen's Emmanuel Hightower.

On Tuesday, February 5, Cardinal Newman traveled to Ben Lippen looking for a season sweep of the Falcons. After a rocky first half, the Cardinals used superior ball movement and some hardnosed rebounding to coast to a 61- 41 victory.

The game started off looking like it would be a romp similar to the last game these two played, a 71- 43 Cardinal victory. Cardinal Newman jumped out to an 11- 3 lead, prompting Falcon coach Wayne Earhardt to use both of his 30- second timeouts before the first four minutes of the game were complete. The Falcons responded with a 6- 0 run of their own to cut the deficit to 13- 9 after one. Jake Motto had six of his team- high 17 points in the quarter.

In the second quarter, sophomore Mitchell Deter got hot for the Falcons. He hit three of four 3- pointers to spark Ben Lippen to a 24- 23 halftime lead. The Cardinals had no answer for him in the quarter, not being able to put a hand in his face as he shot. Cardinal Newman made some halftime adjustments, most notably having Tré Coleman, not a smaller guard, defend Deter. The switch worked, with Deter scoring only one basket in the third quarter. The Cardinals outscored Ben Lippen 19- 5 in the third, sparked by a 12- 0 run coming out of the locker room. From that point, the Cardinals cruised to the 20- point win. The only moment of trepidation came with 2:40 left, when senior Michael Littlejohn came down on his leg strangely and seemed to hurt his knee. However, he came right back in the game about 15 seconds later, calming the fears of the Cardinal faithful in attendance.

In addition to Motto's 17 points, Zach Hrovat scored 14, Littlejohn had 12 and nine rebounds, and Coleman played a good all- around game, with 11 points, eight boards, four assists, and three steals. Deter led all scorers with 18 points, and André Hennie added 11 for the Falcons.