The Cardinals broke free from a 30-30 halftime tie by dominating the second half. Senior guard Michael Greenwell hit 6 threes and scored 28, including 19 after the break, and the Cards held the Eagles to just 21 in the second half.

 

It was a bit of a surprise as far as the margin as Bethlehem won both regular-season meetings, although the second game went to OT. The Cards were just flat-out on their game on defense and offense, playing the best game I've seen them play this year. Incredibly active in the passing lanes.

 

They'll advance to Saturday's championship at Bardstown, where they await the winner of tomorrow's B'town-Washington Co. game.

 

Max Ryan had 18 for NC, and Benton McGill added 11. Bethlehem's Jacob Taylor had 16, Connor Beisler scored 15 and Matthew Hagan had 14.

Two pretty major tournament flame-outs for Bethlehem this season, losing to Fort Knox in the All "A" first round and to Nelson County in the district.

Two pretty major tournament flame-outs for Bethlehem this season, losing to Fort Knox in the All "A" first round and to Nelson County in the district.

 

While I can't totally wrap my mind around the margin of victory in this one, I could see NC winning this one since they went to OT the last time they played. Didn't see Bethlehem struggling in the 2nd half like this.

 

To be fair to NC, they didn't play a better game all year. Greenwell was incredible in this game in what I suspect was a career-high for points, but on top of that, NC played great as a team and was able to force a ton of turnovers — very uncharacteristic for Bethlehem — and was unbelievably precise on offense, which is another characteristic usually reserved for Bethlehem. The Cards did a great job of keeping Eagles' top gun Matthew Hagan mostly under control, and shut down Connor Beisler after he hit 5 threes in the first half; he didn't score again.

 

I'll confess I'm still puzzled by the loss to Knox.