The Cardinals opened the game tonight with a quick jumper only to be answered by Villa's Cilk McSweeney (Ft. Lauderdale , FL / Dillard).  Jason Lambert (Bloomfield , CT / Kingswood ) went three-for-three on three-pointers, two of which tied the game for the Mustangs.  Villa took the lead at 8:26 when Kerry Dugan (Sparks , MD / Hereford ) hit a crucial lay-up to make the score 25-23. 

The Cardinals continued to give the Mustangs a hard battle until the buzzer.  Steve Segears (Lanham , MD / St. Johns College HS) hit a lay-up with a minute left in the half to give Villa the lead 36-35.  Catholic rebounded the ball off of a jumper and took the lead seconds before the half ended 37-35. 

The second half opened up with a quick dunk by Catholic to set the pace for the Cardinals.  Anatoly Smolkin (Pikesville , MD / Pikesville ) made two free-throws to close the gap to 51-49 and followed it up with a steal at 10:36 to give the Mustangs momentum.  In turn, Greg Woody (Baltimore , MD / Mt. St. Joseph 's) caused a Catholic turnover with eight minutes left in the game. 

Phil Williams (District Heights , MD / Bishop McNamara) hit a three-pointer with five minutes left in the game and Segears hit two lay-ups in a row but it was not enough to give the Mustangs the lead.  After many fouls and a dunk by Catholic's Patrick Dwyer, the Cardinals won the game 77-67. 

Lambert led the team with 18 points and four assists, followed by Segears and McSweeney, both with double-doubles.  Segears had 14 points and 11 boards and McSweeney had 10 points and 10 boards.  Additionally, Dugan contributed 14 total points to the game. 

Next up for Villa is a trip to Connecticut to take on Trinity on Saturday, December 30, at 3 pm.