Staff photo / Preston Byers Cardinal Mooney’s Grayson Dubos (1) attempts to block the shot of Girard’s Devin Sanders during Friday’s game in Girard.

GIRARD — Cardinal Mooney entered Friday’s regular-season finale at Girard coming off of back-to-back wins, a rarity in the second half of a trying year. And with the playoffs a week away, the Cardinals were eager to keep the streak and the accompanying momentum going.

Fortunately for Mooney, that is exactly what happened, as the Cardinals overcame a slow start to finish the season off with a 59-49 road win.

“I thought we came out flat,” Mooney head coach Carey Palermo said. “This is our third game in four days — we had a big win on Wednesday — and I think we let that get to our head a little bit. They hit us in the mouth early, but I thought we responded really well.”

The start to Friday’s game did not inspire confidence that the Cardinals could pull off a third straight win. In a battle of press defenses, Girard’s proved more effective early on, helping the Indians build an 11-4 lead before Palermo took a timeout a little over halfway through the first quarter.

The timeout did what Mooney had hoped it would: halt the Indians’ momentum, and give the Cardinals a breather before trying to catch up.

Two quick baskets followed the timeout, bringing Mooney within two before the Cardinals missed four straight free throws that could have given them the lead. Instead, a few minutes later, Kingston Powell made a 3-pointer to put the Cardinals ahead shortly before the end of the first period.

Girard head coach Nick Canterino wasted little time trying to wake up his team, which was outscored 8-0 over the final 3:25 of the first quarter. Only 21 seconds into the second, he called a timeout following a fast-break bucket for the Cardinals.

Like Mooney, the timeout pulled Girard out of its funk. The Indians scored four quick points to take the lead back, although the teams, who were each whistled for technical fouls during a mid-quarter skirmish, traded the advantage back-and-forth until a Gavin Sentner triple, after which the Cardinals kept hold of the lead, albeit a slim one, for the rest of the half.

Mooney’s press began to cause even more trouble for the Indians in the second half. Girard committed consecutive travels and went down by nine before scoring its first points. Nearly five minutes into the quarter, the Indians, down double digits, recorded their first made field goal. The Braxton Sloan basket sparked a mini-run for Girard, which got back within four before Dante Turner made a 3-pointer just before the buzzer to put the Cardinals ahead 41-34 going into the fourth.

“It’s like we’ve never seen it before, which was a little disappointing,” Canterino said of the press.

Bucking the trend it had begun to establish in the middle quarters, Girard came out in the fourth energized, grabbing rebounds and drawing a charge, which enabled the Indians to cut the deficit to three within the first two minutes of the quarter.

However, Powell changed the game for the worse for Girard following a timeout when he made back-to-back 3-pointers to balloon the lead back to nine just 62 seconds after the Indians had pulled within a basket of tying the game.

After the Powell triples, Girard only got as close as five, which it did with 2:18 remaining. But even then, the Cardinals wisely used the clock to their advantage and made enough free throws down the stretch to pull away for a win.

“I thought everyone stepped up and made a play,” Palermo said. “Dante Turner made shots all game. Kingston hit some big shots in the second half. I thought Grayson Dubos’s energy was really good. Ford Stacy hit a couple shots. Everyone had their moment.”

Turner and Stacy each scored a team-high 14 points, while Sentner and Powell added 11 and 10, respectively. Sloan scored the most of any player, finishing with 18, and Girard big man Will Sanders had 14.

With the loss, Girard (9-13), which has dealt with numerous injuries this year, officially finished the regular season with seven straight defeats. The Indians are set to play Northeast 8 Conference rival Poland on the road next Saturday in their playoff opener.

Mooney (11-11) is on its largest win streak since it won three in a row around the beginning of the calendar year. The Cardinals will also be on the road next Saturday, when they play at Southeast.