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RANDOLPH - The Randolph Cardinal basketball team dropped a 61-47 contest to Elgin Public/Pope John in Randolph on Feb. 13 then were set back 78-61 on the road at Stuart on Valentine’s Day.
In the game with the Broncos, the Cards fell behind early by five in the opening eight minutes and Stuart made it double digits by the halftime huddle.
The Cards chipped into the advantage in the third, but the Broncos extended the lead in the finals stanza by another 10 points.
“Logan Lienemann and Lucas Bartels were outstanding against a good Stuart team,” said Cardinal coach Cory Simpson. “We just turned the ball over too many times. I feel like this was a game we gave away.”
Lienemann poured in 28 points on the night and Bartels added a dozen to lead Randolph.
Against EPPJ, the Wolfpack jumped out to a 25-13 lead at the end of the first quarter and added 14 points to the lead in the second eight minutes to basically put the game on ice.
The Cards responded with an 18-2 fourth stanza but the damage was already done.
“We didn’t come out ready to play and EPPJ out-muscled us,” Simpson said. “Ryan Engel had a solid night on both offense and defense but we need all five firing at the same time to be successful.”
Engel finished with 15 points on the evening. Lienemann added nine. Adrian Samano tossed in six; Bartels and Luke Harder each added five.
The Redbirds will finish the regular season slate with a trip to Boyd County on Feb. 21 before heading into sub-district action.
RAN (9-13) 13 12 21 15 - 61 STU (16-5) 18 17 18 25 - 78 RANDOLPH: Logan Lienemann 11 0-0 28; Dayton Winkelbauer 1 1-1 3; Ryan Engel 1 0-0 2; Lucas Bartels 5 0-0 12; Koday Junck 1 1-2 3; Luke Harder 3 2-3 8; Adrian Samano 2 1-2 5.
EPPJ (13-9) 25 18 16 2 - 61 RAN (9-13) 13 4 12 18 - 47 RANDOLPH: Lienemann 3 1-2 9; Winkelbauer 1 0-0 2; Jaylen Junck 1 1-2 3; Engel 5 3-4 15; Bartels 2 0-0 5; K. Junck 1 0-0 2; Harder 2 0-0 5; Samano 1 4-4 6.
