EudoraNews.com

Only three short days ago, a third seed and a substate home game seemed to be sure things for the Eudora High School boys' basketball team.

The Cardinals (9-8) (3-4) dropped a one-point decision at Baldwin Friday, 55-54, and then lost to Osawatomie (6-11) Monday night and at 3A Silver Lake (4-13) the following evening. Now, the Cardinals have their work cut out for them when they play 5A Paola (12-5) (6-1) Friday and 3A power Oskaloosa Monday to place among the top four seeds at substate.

"Offensively, we were inept and there is no other way to describe it," Coach Scott Stein said of the 57-38 drubbing at Silver Lake. "I think we'll bounce back if we get into a rhythm on the offensive end and have a lack of hesitation on shooting."

Facing a 17-5 deficit in the first quarter at Silver Lake, Eudora resorted to fouling the Eagles and paid the price for it. Silver Lake went to the free-throw line a whopping 38 times and converted on 29 of those attempts.

Senior guard Tommy Shutt returned to the lineup for the first time since the mid-season Tonganoxie Tournament in the Baldwin game. He scored three points in the Cardinals' loss at Silver Lake.

The Cardinals improved their free throw shooting to 10-14 after an abyssmal 4-12 effort from the charity stripe in a 59-52 loss to Osawatomie Monday night.

The game was originally scheduled for Feb. 1, and Stein wasn't sure his team really arrived Feb. 11 until the game was almost out of reach.

"I have no answers but we weren't too aggressive on the offensive end," Stein said. "We played hard for six minutes in the fourth quarter and up until then, I don't where they were."

The Cardinals were looking at a 28-11 deficit in the second quarter when Cleveland, 11 points and seven assists, and senior Lear Bowling, 11 points, pulled Eudora to within 10 points at the half.

The Trojans shot 20-of-24, and senior Clint Freeman, game-high 19 points, made 12-of-13 free throws.

Eudora closed the gap to six late in the fourth quarter as Bowling hit two treys. The Cards forced turnovers and held Osawatomie to one field goal.

Eudora lost in the final seconds of the Baldwin game as its archrival (8-9) (4-2) pulled off an unbelievable comeback and moved ahead of Eudora in the league standings.

The Cardinals' 9-0 run in the second quarter allowed them to cruise to a comfortable 31-19 halftime advantage. Bowling led the Cardinals with 17 points and three steals and Niedens, 16 points and four assists, made four three-pointers.

Unfortunately for Eudora, Baldwin also had a couple of shooters who became hot late in the fourth quarter.

Down 54-53, the Bulldogs fouled Bowling, the Cardinals' best free throw shooter. The senior missed a rare foul shot as Baldwin rebounded and called timeout with nine seconds left.

"Our offense has been iced since that big ice storm, and nobody has been shooting consistently," Stein said. "Maybe that Baldwin loss took something out of us."

The real battle for substate seeding, Stein said, will be between the third through sixth seeds. Eudora, Baldwin, Bishop Ward and Mill Valley will be contending for those spots.

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