In the ten seasons in which the Cardinals have competed in the long running MTC tournament, they have now won nine of the boy's basketball tournament titles.

They added their ninth on Monday night by using a big second quarter run to pull away from long time rival Wayne City, 50-33, in the finale of the weather lengthened event.

For Woodlawn it was business as usual, taking home the hardware in a tournament in which they are now a combined 29-1 overall with just a championship game loss to Odin in 2014 as the only blemish in the outstanding run.

The Cardinals nailed three consecutive 3-pointers to open up the second quarter as they pulled away and improved to 14-6 overall in 2017-18.

Tournament Most Valuable Player Blake McKay hit for 16-points on the night for the Cardinals and he hit a pair of 3-point bombs in the second quarter scoring burst that changed the contest from a close call to a rout in a short period of time.

McKay, a 6-foot-1 sophomore guard, hit the first shot of the second quarter from the top of the circle to get Woodlawn started.

Senior forward Blake Fewkes led all scorers with 18-points for the Cards and he canned the fourth of five 3-point bombs by the team in a two and a half minute span.

Freshman Hunter England and sophomore Chase Hollenkamp also dialed up long distance shots.

As McKay scored on a drive to the goal with 3:27 left in the second quarter, it finished a 14-2 game-changer and pushed the margin to 23-9.

In fact, five different Woodlawn players hit 3-point shots in the victory over Wayne City.

“This was a great way to cap things off. It was a difficult week with everything getting pushed back and then playing three games in four days. It is a little bit different than normal but the kids responded,” said Coach Gamber. “Defensively we were really good tonight. I thought we guarded them hard and we guarded them smart. They did a good job blocking out on the boards and I thought all of their (Wayne City) shots were challenged.”

The Indians were held in check by the Woodlawn defense for the entire game.

Only one player, 6-foot-1 senior guard Jaxon King, hit for double-figures in scoring.

The veteran guard netted 11-points for the Indians before fouling out late in the game.

Wayne City head coach Jeff Morris got seven-points from Remington Henson and four points each from senior Enrico Carbonetti and Dalton Smith.

Junior point guard Jayzale O'Neal ended up with just one made field goal, a 3-pointer in the first half, as he was hampered badly by a sprained ankle he suffered in practice on Saturday.

The Indians are also missing sophomore forward Travis Dickey who suffered a stress fracture to his right foot. Coach Morris is hoping to get him back soon.

Wayne City fell to 13-3 on the season, with two of the losses coming in title games in tournaments; losing to Webber Township in the Wayne City Holiday Tournament and Monday night's defeat.

“We are a little bit banged up, we have Travis (Dickey) out right now, for another week with a stress fracture, and Jayzale rolled his ankle Saturday so he wasn't 100 percent,” said Coach Morris. “I give him credit for trying to get out there tonight. He wanted to play. But that isn't what beat us. They were just better than us tonight. Hopefully next time we will be better prepared.”

The Indians enjoyed a couple of early leads in the game and their zone defense was causing the Cardinals some issues in the first quarter.

Smith and King both scored on drives to the basket for an early 4-2 lead.

Jackson Bennett, a 6-foot junior, hit his only field goal of the night on a 3-pointer from the left corner to give Woodlawn a 9-7 advantage at the end of the quarter.

The hosts took complete control in the second quarter and extended the lead to 28-11 with McKay hitting his second trey and Fewkes followed that up with a mid-range score.

“We were making shots against their zone and then they had to go man. That is something that we can do better. We have not shot the ball well this year, but going into the year I thought it was going to be one of our strengths,” said Coach Gamber. “We finally made a few. I thought we were very patient and smart about what we wanted to do tonight.”

Wayne City got a couple of scores to close the half with Smith and King both driving to the basket, which ended the half at 28-15.

After hitting just 2-of-9 shots in the first quarter and committing five turnovers, Woodlawn settled down and the shots (7-of-13) began to fall.

Wayne City ended the half hitting just 6-of-15 from the floor while coughing up seven-turnovers as they trailed at intermission.

The offense for the Indians didn't get much better in the second half.

Henson scored twice in the frame near the basket, with one of the baskets on a rebound of his own missed shot for a score.

King scored on a drive to the basket but those were the only three field goals made (3-of-13) in the quarter.

Fewkes, England and McKay added points to the Woodlawn offensive effort.A McKay steal and fast break finish and Fewkes making a 1-of-2 trip to the foul line closed the quarter at 37-21 Cardinals.

Actually Woodlawn could have closed the book on the game much earlier in the fourth quarter but the were just 2-of-6 from the foul line in the early going of the frame.

But Wayne City would get no closer than 12-points as Woodlawn's Fewkes and McKay combined for four-consecutive free throws in the final 1:30 to finish the conquest.

Woodlawn ended up 15-of-34 overall (44.1 percent) and, after the five first quarter turnovers, committed just nine-turnovers in 32 minutes.

Following the five missed 3-pointers early, the Cardinals responded by hitting 6-of-15 the rest of the game.

The Indians finished up 12-of-38 from the floor overall (31.5 percent) and 2-of-14 from the arc.

Woodlawn, behind six rebounds by Fewkes and five rebounds by McKay, held a 22-18 advantage on the glass.

Henson finished with five rebounds and junior forward Dane Horton added four.

Each team heads back into action in the Midland Trail Conference with Wayne City hosting Webber Township on Tuesday night. The two teams have split their two contests this season with WC winning the most recent decision on an O'Neal last second shot Thursday night to get the Indians into the MTC title game.

Wayne City also will play Edwards County on Friday and they will travel to Johnston City on Saturday.

“Give them (Woodlawn) credit for the way they attacked it (zone) and when they are hitting shots it is very hard to recover from it,” said Coach Morris. “When you let a team like that get that kind of a lead it is hard to play catch up. They do such a good job of valuing the basketball, they don't turn it over and they usually get pretty good shots. We have to keep it closer in the first half to give ourselves a chance.”

Woodlawn heads to Grayville on Tuesday night and then they will host Goreville on Saturday night.

“We you put it all together (offensively and defensively) you can have a really good night,” said Coach Gamber. “We needed it. When you play somebody good, you have to play well and I thought our kids were really engaged tonight. It was a good way to finish it (the tournament) off.”

Coach Tyler Mitchell saw his club hold Webber Township to just 14 second half points in the victory to improve to 11-6 overall.

Six-foot-three senior Caleb Jourdan led the Eagles with 16-points while senior guard Seth Nix added 14.

Junior guard Gage Roberts tossed in 10-points as Odin trailed 24-22 at the half but outscored the Trojans 18-8 in the third quarter as Jourdan scored nine of his points in the frame to give the Eagles the advantage.

Webber Township fell to 13-6 overall with the loss.

The Trojans were led by senior guard Dylan Stratton with 16-points and eight points from senior Charles Neal.

Dalton Hart added seven-points in the loss for Webber.