By AARON MURRAY \ Daily Journal Sports Writer

Published: Saturday, November 25, 2006
Updated: Friday, November 24, 2006 11:14 PM CST

PARK HILLS - On the first night of the Mineral Area College's Thanksgiving Classic, the Cardinals came up with a big win over the Spoon River Crusaders 98-66 to make their win streak on the Bob Sechrest Sr. Fieldhouse floor 29 in a row.

In the first half the Cardinals were able to dominate the Crusaders defensively, and the strong defense matched with a productive offense gave the 8-1 Cardinals a large lead early on.

Chad Henderson captialized on a three point opportunity early on to give the Cardinals a 5-2 lead. A few minutes later it was Willie Hassell with another three for Mineral Area for a 19-8 lead. The Cardinals ran into a couple of rough patches on offense, but the defense stayed solid and only allowed four points. Dontavis Jones was able to rob Spoon River twice in a row, but offensively Mineral Area was unable to look as sharp. When the Cardinals' offense stopped making the mistakes, they struck the Crusaders with everything they had.

With a thirty-point lead already, Hassell added four points in the blink of an eye. The Cardinals continued to add to the lead with Hassel and Eric Stuckey scoring 11 points apiece in the first half. Henderson and John Fowler would both follow with six.

In the second half, Mineral Area came on to the court ready to have some fun. An early alley-oop atempt failed, and the big lead relaxed the Cardinals as the Crusaders started to tear through Mineral Area's defense for the first time on the night. Kelsey Credit of Spoon River was able to breakaway downcourt for a one-handed slam, and Mark Rives along with Sam Dever drained a couple of three-pointers for the Crusaders. Credit led Spoon River in the second half as he turned Mineral Area turnovers in to points on the board time and time again.

Even with the stepped-up offense, the Cardinals big lead was too overwhelming for Spoon River as every player of Mineral Area chipped in for atleast a couple of points in the second half. A three-pointer by Hassell broke the ice as Ricky Claitt followed with a reply to the Crusaders slam with a two-handed jam of his own. Alika Snow followed with penetration through the Crusaders to give the Cardinals an 81-50 lead. Both teams played even basketball for the rest of the half, and the Cardinals walked away with the win.

Claitt and North County grad, Tommy Smith, led the team in the second half with six points, but Hassell ended as the leading scorer for the Cardinals with 16 points on the night.

Eric Stuckey fell a few points shy of Hassell with 13, and Romey with 10 would be the only other player with double digits. Claitt, Henderson, and John Fowler would each put eight points on the scoreboard, O'Dell Eargle and Smith would add seven apiece, and Tony Webb would chip in with six. As a team Mineral Area was a solid 80 percent from the free-throw line in the second half, and 71 percent for the game.

Spoon River will play Meramec tonight at 5 p.m., and Mineral Area will follow with a match-up against Dyersburg State out of Tennesee. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.