Visitor Arlington managed a win versus the St. Mary Cardinals last week, but the hometown team put up a solid fight in the Cardinal vs. Cardinal match.

The visiting Cardinals took a narrow lead in the first quarter, 15-14, and slightly widened it by the half, 33-30.

Despite keeping up in the third quarter, with Arlington outscoring St. Mary by one point, the local boys struggled in the fourth quarter, and the game ended in their opponents’ favor, 65-51.

“We played a very solid game tonight,” coach Scott Klungseth said. “Arlington is a very good team that beat us by 39 during Christmas Break, and this game was only a six-point difference with three minutes left to play.”

The coach was thankful for the “great crowd” and was pleased to have such big support.

“The team is doing everything we are asking of them as a coaching staff, and we showed a lot of improvement with becoming a more physical team and a more patient team,” Klungseth said.

Leading the charge for the Dell Rapids scoring game, Cody Gannon relied on speed to rack up 22 points by the end of the night. Jason Michel and Ethan Schmidt supported with seven points apiece.

Michel led the defensive game for Dells, with eight rebounds. Schmidt and Ben Bunkers grabbed four each, and Gannon picked up three for the Cardinals.

Stealing was kept to a minimum on both sides, but Bunkers snatched up two and Mitch Roemen stole once.

Next up for the 0-14 Cardinal boys is a Deubrook Area game Feb. 2 in Toronto.