Talk about good timing. The Cardinals picked the perfect time for perhaps their best performance of the season.
Leading from start to finish, the 12th-seeded Cardinals rolled to a 79-63 win against fifth-seeded Navarro in the opening round of the Region XIV Tournament Tuesday afternoon at John Alexander Gymnasium in Jacksonville.
The win improved second-year head coach Mark Leslie's squad, which had lost both regular season games against Navarro, to 13-16. Navarro closed the year 17-13.
The Cardinals are next scheduled to face No. 4-seeded Lamar State-PA (19-11) in the quarterfinals at 3 p.m. Thursday. The Cardinals fell 87-85 to Lamar State-PA earlier this season.
Jakevion Buckley had a game to remember for the Cardinals. He lit the Bulldogs up for 34 points, hitting 19-of-24 from the free throw line and tossing in a trio of three-pointers. Buckley also grabbed seven rebounds and dished out five assists.
Quevian Adger had 13 points and 11 rebounds. The Cardinals outrebounded Navarro, 43-33.
Also scoring in double figures for the Cardinals were MJ Leslie with 12, all on three-pointers, and Najee Jones with 10.
The Cardinals had nine three-pointers, all in the first half as they built a 40-26 halftime lead.
The Cardinals jumped out to a 9-0 lead and were up 28-10 at the 9:28 mark of the first half.
