TOLEDO, Ohio | E.C. Central traveled to the Buckeye State and put a rare home-loss quickly in its rearview mirrors.
The Times No. 1 Cardinals participated in the 12th annual MLK Classic on Monday and fought off Toledo Scott for a 74-66 victory before a near-capacity crowd at Owens Community College.
"I'm glad we had to play this game today because it would have been too long to wait until Thursday to play (against West Side)," E.C. Central coach Abe Brown said.
The Cardinals, who fell 75-69 to Crown Point on Saturday at home, shook off the defeat by taking care of business against a Toledo team that annually plays host to out-of-town squads for a tournament held in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Angel Garcia and Kawann Short proved to be too much for the Ohio squad.
Garcia poured in a game-high 22 points and grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds to lead the Cardinals (10-3), while Short came up big with 21 points and eight boards.
"I thought it was a pretty good team we played against and it meant a lot for us to come out and play well here," Garcia said.
Despite committing 14 turnovers in the first half, Central took a 38-26 lead into halftime. The Cardinals led by as much as 16 points in the second quarter.
"As a team, we didn't play on all cylinders," Brown said. "Being that we've never played Scott we really didn't know much about them. We wanted to come out and play hard, especially on a stage like this (at the MLK Classic)."
Scott coach Joe Suboticki credited the Cardinals for holding off the Bulldogs (5-6), who never led during the game.
"I thought we held our own and we competed," Suboticki said. "We played hard. Their transition game ultimately beat us."
Bryce Walker, the Cardinals' 5-foot-10 guard, earned the game's most valuable player honors after finishing with 12 points.
But Garcia commanded most of the Bulldogs' attention. Garcia made his presence felt early, scoring 10 points in the opening quarter to help the Cardinals take a 19-15 advantage into the second quarter.
"The team we played today they were fighters," Walker said. "They never stopped playing hard. They weren't just going to come out and let us win."
