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By MIKE JOSEPH
Traveler Correspondent

SOUTH HAVEN--Coming into the game, South Haven head coach Darren McDorman knew that his team would have to shut down the inside game of the Norwich Eagles to be successful.

The Cardinals double and triple-teamed Mason Hewitt, holding the six-foot five inch center to seven points on their way to a dominating 77-45 win over Norwich Saturday night.

"We were going to make sure he (Hewitt) didn't get position down low." said McDorman. "We wanted to make sure and put at least two bodies on him defensively."

South Haven put on a clinic offensively and defensively in the first half, rolling out to a 47-23 halftime lead. The Cardinals were able to use their quickness in transition, getting several layups off the break.

Junior center Jordan Creed led the Cardinals in the first quarter, scoring six points while contributing to holding Hewitt scoreless. "Jordan played great defense tonight." said McDorman. "He got into some foul trouble but when he was in there, he was key for us."

Even though the Cardinals found themselves in some foul difficulties in the first half with Creed and Nathan Yunker picking up three fouls in the half, the South Haven bench was able to pick up the slack. Juniors Jake Parcher and Reece Blaylock held their own off the bench.

"We go eight deep and our bench brings a lot of energy." said McDorman. "Jake (Parcher) does a good job running the point and Reese was huge on the boards for us." Blaylock scored four points but pulled down seven boards to lead the Cardinals.

South Haven took their first double digit lead in the first quarter when Patrick Curl snared an offensive rebound and scored off a Blaylock miss giving the Cardinals a 16-6 lead with 1:52 left in the period.

A 10-1 run by the Cardinals opening the second period erased any doubt to the outcome, as the lead swelled to 30-9 with 5:27 left in the half. Senior Jake Davidson scored 12 of his game-high 22 points in the first half. Davidson, giving up seven-inches in height to Hewitt, used his quickness to drive around the Norwich center scoring most of his points in the paint.

Levi Poindexter was the only Eagle to have success against the Cardinals, scoring a team-high 19 points, including a pair of three-pointers in the second half.

Fellow seniors Derrick Spencer and Kalen Fitch joined Davidson in double figures for South Haven. Spencer scored 10 of his 16 points in the second half while Fitch tallied 12 for the Cardinals.

"These kids are doing a great job of seeing each other and making the extra pass." said McDorman. "We blocked out and rebounded well. If we can maintain that type of intensity, we will be hard to beat."

With the win, the Cardinals move to 12-3 overall with a key SCBL matchup Tuesday night at home against the Argonia Raiders. Both teams sit in a logjam at the top of the league with one loss and will try to keep pace with West Elk and Oxford.

NORWICH- 8 15 12 10--45
SOUTH HAVEN- 20 27 12 18-77

Norwich- Poindexter 19, Holder 8, Hewitt 7, Rhodes 5, Hardaway 3, Johnson 2, Howard 1
South Haven- Davidson 22, Spencer 16, Fitch 12, Yunker 8, Creed 6, Curl 5, Blaylock 4, Parcher 2, Berry 2