Ireton’s Cardinals finished an impressive summer campaign going 11-0 in the Hoop Magic League, capturing the tournament championship with a doubleheader win Sunday with a 3:30pm semifinal win then bouncing back at 5:30 for a title game against Osbourne Park. They interrupted their march to Hoop Magic title last week long enough to venture to Albright College in Pennsylvannia for the Eastern Invitational Team camp Thursday and Friday.
The gritty Cards opened with a close win over Central Dauphin High School with junior Patrick Hanafin pouring in 27 points. St Joe’s Metuchen sent the Alexandrians to the consolation round with a win over Ireton, but the Cardinals bounced back to stop Scranton High School. In game four another junior, guard Antonio Rouse, hit a three with 1.4 seconds remaining to send the Friday contest to overtime where the Virginians never looked back in dumping Pennsylvannia’s state runners up, York High School by 5. Bishop McDevit pulled out a nailbiter in the consolation final over the good guys to send the redbirds home with a respectable 3-2 mark. Without missing a beat, the team got a good night’s rest, and won a pair on Sunday to capture the Hoop Magic trophy. “We played well, we improved as a team,” commented new skipper, Neil Berkman. “We aren’t there yet, but I can see there is ‘no quit’ in our guys and their hard work shows up in the improvement already this summer.”
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