CAMDEN — By PATRIC FLANNIGAN
Sports editor
Friday night's games on the road against Hamburg will probably be more about mind sets than play sets. The Lady Cards loss 56-27 to Star City and the Cardinals loss 87-75.
After the grueling outing in the unfair confines of Star City, the Camden Fairview Cards and Lady Cards lost ground in the conference race. The Lady Cardinals dropped to a tie for second place along with Warren at 8-3 in conference as Star City now sits at the top spot.
The Cardinals dropped to third with a chance to tie with Monticello for second place. Monticello will be off on Friday so CF (7-4) with a win can jump Monticello because of its two head-to-head victories over the Billies.
Things weren’t right from the offset in Star City as the fouls piled up for the home team and the visiting Lady Cardinals had three starters on the bench early because of it. The Billies were able to rip and rake at the Lady Cardinals while also walking and double dribbling on multiple occasions around the perimeter.
Still, the Lady Cardinals were able to keep the game close as both teams were locked in on defense and the quarter ended with Star City only up 5-4. In the second quarter, the favoritism from the officials would continue and the environment would worsen when an administrator sent an officer into the visiting section to remove an elderly fan who was no where near the floor or making any obscene jester or rude comments. Meanwhile, the student section on the home team taunted and inched its way onto the playing floor on several occasions during the night.
It became clear, the fix was in.
The shortcoming of the officials almost overshadowed the hard work and talent from the Star City student athletes and coaches. SC did come to the game to play and were the better team on Tuesday night as it got hot from the perimeter and nailed three threes in the third.
Jayla Jackson and Raven Porchia led the Lady Cards with six points each. Jihya Jefferson scored four.
The same would continue in the boys game as Tyree Holliman would go down with an ankle injury early in the game. Jaylon Moore picked up three fouls in the first half and was limited throughout the second half. C.F. still kept the game close and cut it to six in the fourth quarter.
The referees would again mar the game. As Javion Clemmer was at the foul line shooting, an official allowed for a Star City substitution mid shot. Clemmer would hit the shot anyway but the officials made him shoot the free throws over.
Demarcus Morgan was hit on a critical late three that would’ve cut the game to a small margin, but again no call. Morgan had a career night scoring 24 points to lead the Cardinals and Dashaire Ford Burton scored 11. Moore finished with 8 points.
After the game, neither coached looked to make any excuses and were already focused on the next game. Both teams have also played themselves into the post season as well. Something that hasn’t happened since 2013.