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RANDOLPH - The Randolph boys’ basketball team earned the No. 3 seed in the upcoming Lewis & Clark Conference Basketball Tournaments and was set to take on Walthill in the opening round here at home Feb. 4.
The Cardinals’ last game prior to opening action in the conference festival wasn’t a successful one in the win column as the Redbirds dropped a 65-40 decision to the No. 2 seed in the upcoming tournament, Wynot.
“We need to get back to work and get mentally focused to take on Walthill in the tournament,” said Coach Cory Simpson.
The Cards fell behind 19-13 in the first eight minutes of the game with the Blue Devils and their guests increased the lead to 38-18 by the time the teams headed to the halftime locker room.
Randolph nibbled into the lead in the third frame by a single point before Wynot put the game away with a 22-16 advantage in the final quarter to come away with the 25-point win.
Luke Harder paced the Cardinal offensive attack with 12 points on the night; Logan Lienemann tacked on 10.
Ryan Engel tossed in nine and Adrian Samano added seven.
Randolph defeated Walthill 47-37 in a game played here in Randolph back on Jan. 7. The Blujays brought a 7-10 record into the tournament game Feb. 4.
The Randolph/Walthill winner will take on the winner of a game between Wynot and Bloomfield which was also played on Feb. 4.
No. 1 Wausa takes on Homer and Winnebago was set to take on Creighton in the other half of the bracket.
The four winners from Feb. 4 will travel to the highest-seeded winner’s home court on Feb. 7 with the Lewis & Clark Conference championship set for Rice Auditorium on the campus of Wayne State College on Feb. 10.
The consolation bracket will take the four losing teams from the games on Feb. 4 and match them together on Feb. 7 at a site to be determined by seeding with the winner’s of that contest set to play Feb. 8 along with the 3rd-place game from the winner’s bracket.
WYN (10-7) 19 19 5 22 - 65 RAN (8-9) 13 5 6 16 - 40 RANDOLPH: Logan Lienemann 4 0-0 10; Dayton Winkelbauer 1 0-0 2; Ryan Engel 2 5-6 9; Kody Junck 0 0-2 0; Luke Harder 4 4-9 12; Adrian Samano 3 0-0 7.
