Both the Big Rapids Cardinals boys and girls travel to Tri County for doubleheader action starting at 6pm tonight. Both games will be aired live on WBRN 1460, 107.7, & 96.5 as well as streaming via the Betten Baker Chevy Buick GMC Live Stream.

The boys are riding a 4-game win streak coming off an eventful start to their week. Monday night they survived against Chippewa Hills 48-43. Tuesday night they won the “Battle of the Cardinals” at Orchard View, 47-45.

Sitting at 7-5, 4-3 in Gold play, the boys will look to sweep the season series tonight. They took game one way back on December 17^th of 2018, 82-32. Count on the Vikings (2-10, 0-6), who have found ways to score as of late, to cut that margin closer tonight. Game 1 box and game flow below.

The Lady Cardinals have yet to find their stride. Where the boys had a signature win at Reed City, the girls have struggled to beat the teams they must in order to stay alive in a conference with the #2 ranked team in the state, Central Montcalm.

The main problem? Scoring. The Cardinals have eclipsed 40+ points only 5 times this year with 2 of those games heading into overtime.

The good news? The 2^nd half of the year ends the everlasting road trip. After tonight’s game the girls will conclude a 7-game road trip dating back to December 20^th, 2018. In fact, they only have 2 road games the rest of the 2018-2019 season: February 1^st at Fremont and February 26^th at McBain.

In game 1 of the series, the Lady Cardinals fell in overtime to the Vikings in Big Rapids, 56-53. Tonight, Ry-Guy’s metrics have the Vikings winning a defensive affair, 35-31. However, Ry-Guy is only right 50% of the time…

Tune to WBRN 1460, 107.7, & 96.5 for the play-by-play action of both the Lady Cardinals and the Boys Cardinals with Bryan Fongers and J.T. Scarpelli starting at 5:45p.

You can also stream the game via the Betten Baker Chevy Buick GMC Live Stream here!

The Big Rapids Cardinals (7-5) took care of business Tuesday night with a non-conference win at Muskegon Orchard View (8-4) 47-45.

The Cardinals opened the game on a 9-0 run that Orchard View could not recover from. The closest they would come would be halfway through the 4^th when the home Cardinals pulled within 1, 41-40 before Big Rapids tacked on 4 unanswered.

Big Rapids would then close the game out 47-45 to move to 7-5 overall and hand Orchard View their 4^th loss and only 2^nd non-conference loss.

Freshman DJ Lee notched the first double-double of his career with 10 points and 10 rebounds, both career highs. Jake Martinson lead in scoring with 11 points while the Iceman Trevor Woodard knocked down 3 of 3 3-point shots.

Big Rapids was 6 of 8 from the Charity Stripe, 5 of 15 from Beyond, out rebounded Orchard View 40-36, and shot 41% overall.

A markedly better performance from Monday night versus the Chippewa Hills Warriors when they shot 28% overall and went 3 of 29 from 3. Despite that, the Cards still managed to grind out a Conference win 48-43.

Both the Lady Cardinals and the Boys Cardinals head to Tri-County Friday night in a Conference Matchup with the Vikings.

Tune to WBRN 1460, 107.7, & 96.5 for the play-by-play action of both the Lady Cardinals and the Boys Cardinals with Bryan Fongers and J.T. Scarpelli.

You can also stream the game via the Betten Baker Chevy Buick GMC Live Stream here!

It wasn’t an easy Monday night for either the Big Rapids Cardinals (6-5) or the Chippewa Hills Warriors (3-7) but somehow Big Rapids came away with the victory, 48-43.

Scoring only 16 points in the first half and going 1-20 from 3-point land, the Cardinals limped into the 2^nd half shocked. The Warriors were up 25-16 with as strange a stat line as you’ll see.

Chip Hills had 16 turnovers, hadn’t even attempted a 3-point shot, and were being out rebounded offensively 12 to 4.

The Cardinals had 1 defensive rebound to the Warriors 16. They were shooting 5% from 3-point land and 18% from the field. Sharp shooters Jake Martinson and Sam Alley airballed multiple 3-point shots long. It seemed like the entire Cardinal unit would have had a better chance punting the ball towards the basket.

But then came the 3^rd quarter. Then came some true Cardinal heart and soul. Finding any and every way to score Big Rapids threw up 15 3^rd quarter points to the Warriors 5 to go up 1; 31-30.

The 5-point Warrior offense was less because the Warriors went cold and more because both Dorian Martin and Jayden Mason played one of the best defensive half’s of basketball you’ll see.

Finishing with a team leading 14 points and 6 rebounds, Mason stifled and frustrated the Warriors at half court. Causing multiple turnovers including in 4 straight Chip Hills possessions. Mason compiled 4 steals in the effort.

Martin finished with 5 points including a fresh and pure 3 pointer in the 4^th. But Gucci was all about the defense in the 2^nd half frustrating the Warrior’s Cole and Rogers who had a combined 16 turnovers between the 2 of them.

Ironically on the offensive side, it was free throws that ultimately sealed the deal. The Cardinals shot just 11 of 18 from the charity stripe, but they hit them when they needed. The Warriors were spectacular at the line all night but went cold in the 4th. Chip Hills finished 17 of 28. They were 11 of 15 at half.

In fact, in the first half the Warriors had 14 points in the paint. 14 plus 11 is the full 25. So why shoot 3’s when Kuzma and Frebes can run unabated to the hoop.

For both sides it was ugly. But the Cardinals take the win and the Warriors have nothing to be ashamed. They came, they saw, and they very nearly conquered the Cardinals.

The Cardinals (6-5) travel to Orchard View (8-3) tonight in a Battle of the Cardinals.

Tune to WBRN 1460, 107.7, & 96.5 for the play-by-play action with Bryan Fongers and J.T. Scarpelli.

You can also stream the game via the Betten Baker Chevy Buick GMC Live Stream here!

The Big Rapids Cardinals edged the Grant Tigers 44-42 at Grant High School in CSAA-Gold Conference action Friday night.

The game was a back and forth affair with 8 lead changes including a final minute 3 point hit by Big Rapid’s Trevor Woodard.

The Cardinals had possession with less than a minute to go when Coach Kent Ingles drew up another in-bound gem. Running picks to draw the defense to Jake Martinson, who averages 21, 3 Grant defenders bit opening up Trevor Woodard for a wide-open shot on the far side of the court. The 3 point bomb hit the rim and bounced a few times before landing home and sealing the deal the Cardinals.

Woodard finished with 6 points, while Martinson tallied yet another double-double with 23 points and 11 rebounds.

The Cardinals are on a 2 game win streak in conference while the Tigers have now lost 3 in a row.

Despite the conference win, the only movement in the CSAA - Gold was the Cardinals and Tigers swapping spots (BR to 5th, Grant to 6th) as Fremont and Reed City, Gold’s 1^st & 2^nd place teams respectively, both took care of business. Fremont handled Chip Hills at home 74-30 while the Coyotes had little issue in Newaygo’s “Lions Den” winning 73-62.

Conference standings below.

The Cardinals (5-5) host the Chippewa Hills Warriors (3-6) tonight at 7:00pm in Big Rapids.

Tune to WBRN 1460, 107.7, & 96.5 for the play-by-play action with Bryan Fongers and J.T. Scarpelli.

You can also stream the game via the Betten Baker Chevy Buick GMC Live Stream here!