Cardinals Prevail in 45th Renewal of Rivalry

Perry Claims Scoring Honors for Goucher with 12 Points

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Goucher and Catholic renewed acquaintances for the 45th time tonight in the Landmark Conference opener for both teams. The Cardinals, behind a 28-point, 13-rebound performance out of junior forward Jason Banzhaf, came out on top, 77-60.

The Cardinals (4-3, 1-0 Landmark) never trailed in the contest and led by as many as 18 points in the first half. Donte Brandon (Washington, D.C./Westlake), who scored all nine points of his points in the opening 20 minutes, nailed a shot from three-point range with :29 remaining before halftime to knock the Gophers' deficit down to 43-28.

Goucher's comeback took a more serious tone in the second half, but not before Catholic flirted with a 20-point advantage. After a three-point basket by Brian Baker put the Cardinals ahead 52-33 less than five minutes into the period, the Gophers (1-4, 0-1 Landmark Conference) proceeded to go on a 13-2 run, closing to within 54-46 on a layup by Kyle Gladden (Baltimore, Md./Lansdowne) with 11:29 left to play.

The two teams were once again separated by only eight points (64-56) when Dorian Green (Baltimore, Md./Cardinal Gibbons) connected from behind the three-point stripe with 5:34 remaining, but the Gophers wouldn't score again until Catholic had built its lead back up to 16 points with only 1:50 showing on the clock.

The only double-digit scorer for Goucher tonight was Micah Perry (Silver Spring, Md./Springbrook), who finished with 12 points.

Banzhaf tallied his final two points of the contest at the free-throw line with 3:11 remaining. He entered the game having scored 972 points during his three seasons at Catholic, so the second free throw turned out to be his 1,000th career point.

By winning, the Cardinals assumed a 33-12 lead in the all-time series between the two rivals.