Correspondent photo / Lowell Spencer Cardinal Mooney’s Nick Pregibon gets set to shoot over Mapleton’s Cole Vermilya.

SALEM – Cardinal Mooney has gained a reputation as a hot shooting team this year. In Monday night’s district semifinal, it didn’t disappoint.

The fourth-seeded Cardinals connected on 12 three-pointers en route to a lopsided 82-32 victory over the Mapleton Mounties to advance to Friday’s Division III district championship game. The Cardinals will face the winner of tonight’s Perry and South Range game at Salem. Friday’s game will tip off at 7 p.m.

“Honestly, it goes back to practice,” Cardinals senior point guard Jibri Carter said. “We all like getting each other involved and we all like to shoot the ball. You can see that we all love shooting that three. We all go into the games feeling confident and hopefully, it comes out the way it has.”

“It’s when we start flying around on defense,” Palermo added. “Everything for us starts with our defense. When we start flying around and defending, the shots start to fall. When we are stagnant and walking around, they don’t fall. We thrive off of our defense.”

With the victory, the Cardinals improved to 20-5, and they have won six games in a row. The Mounties end the year with a 16-8 record.

The Cardinal didn’t waste any time in setting the tone and taking charge of the contest with a 12-3 run within the first three minutes of the game. Ashton O’Brien provided the exclamation point in the first quarter when he buried a three at the buzzer to stake the Cardinals to a commanding 29-11 advantage at the close of the first period.

“We always want to play well. We put a lot of work into practice and preparation. We treat every game the same. We want to win every basketball game we play. We have played in this gym a lot,” Palermo said.

Led by the play of Carter in the second quarter, the Cardinals continued to build on their lead as they outscored the Mounties 17-3 in the period and held a 46-14 advantage at halftime. Carter was efficient in both driving to the bucket and also kicking it out to his teammates to provide them with open shots.

Carter scored a game-high 16 points in the contest. O’Brien and Nico Genova each added 13 while Eddie Nieves chipped in with 11 points in the game. The Cardinals had six players hit shots from beyond the arc. Nieves and Don Letlow each grabbed six rebounds to lead the Cardinals on the glass.

“I really like to look first to get my guys involved, but once that lane opens up, I love to get in there and get to the hoop. To get fouled, to get hit, to get bumped and then step out after that,” Carter said. “I have been working the past few days and I felt pretty good coming into this game. I usually start on the inside and then go outside. It usually all comes together.”

“He is so important for what we do,” Palermo said of Carter. “From the point guard spot, he leads our team in assists and steals, and he gets around four rebounds a game. Everything we do is predicated on his penetration. When teams play us in man and pressure us, he is a luxury because he can get by anybody. When they pack it in like tonight, he can get into gaps, and he can find the open man. He makes my job really easy.”

When Rocco Turner hit a three at the 7:20 mark of the third quarter, the Cardinals activated the running clock rule with a 35-point, 49-14 lead. They went on to hold a 65-23 lead by the end of the third period.

Both teams substituted heavily in the fourth quarter as the Cardinals continued their domination. They outscored the Mounties 17-9 in the final frame to win by the final 50-point margin.

The Mounties were led by Scotty Hickey with 13 points. Kyle Sloter added nine points for the Mounties.

“As far as coaching, Coach Carden and Coach French (South Range) are probably the closest thing I have as best friends in coaching in the coaching circle of this area. They do a really good job. I have a lot of respect for them. But I don’t like to preference one over the other. They are both really good teams,” Palermo said of the possible Perry or South Range matchup on Friday night.

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