The Cardinals’ hard work and basketball intelligence helped them put the game away.

Randolph made nine of its 11 3-pointers in the opening 16 minutes and then outscored Panama 12-6 in the fourth quarter en route to a 61-51 nonleague boys basketball victory at Randolph Central School.

“Every time we come here, I say that I’m going to send my boys to the Kevin Hind School of Perimeter Shooting,” Panama head coach Ed Nelson said. “Every time we come here they knock those perimeter shots down.”

Panama cut its deficit, which was 11 at halftime, to 49-45 heading into the final eight minutes, but was unable to get any closer.

Panama’s Alex Barmore collects a rebound in front of Randolph’s Carter Conley during Tuesday’s nonleague game in Randolph. Photo courtesy of Mike Frame

“I thought in the fourth quarter we really did a good job of taking the air out of the ball,” said Hind, Randolph’s head coach. “We had a good lead and executed.”

Sophomore Carter Conley scored on a putback early in the fourth quarter to push the Randolph lead back up to eight and then later converted a three-point play to make it 56-47 with 3:49 remaining.

“He was rebounding in the first half, but the lights were a little bright and he wasn’t quite ready,” Hind said of Conley. “He was huge down the stretch.”

Bryce Hinsdale’s bucket cut the Panthers’ deficit back down to seven, but the Cardinals effectively shortened the game with long possessions and a pair of offensive rebounds before going 5 of 6 from the foul line in the closing minutes.

“I knew at the beginning of the fourth quarter what the game plan was going to be for them,” Nelson said. ” … I knew they were trying to shorten the game and make it a few-possession deal.”

Senior Drew Hind had 24 points, 10 rebounds and six assists for the Cardinals (9-1), the New York State Sportswriters Association’s top-ranked Class C team.

“When you have a player as good as Drew, you put so much energy into stopping him,” Nelson said. ” … When we help off Drew, he kicks it out and makes us pay.”

Senior Carter Brink had 23 points to lead Panama (8-2), the NYSSWA’s second-ranked Class D team. Bryce Hinsdale had 10 points and Alex Barmore chipped in 6 points to go along with 10 rebounds.

“We’ve got a pretty good inside-out game. We have Alex Barmore, who is 6-foot-3 and he’s a Greek god,” Nelson said. “We need to get him the ball more in the paint and get him more touches. … We just can’t rely on the perimeter shot all the time.”

Junior Kevin McElwain hit back-to-back 3-pointers, the second with 4 seconds remaining, as Randolph led 15-14 at the end of the first quarter. The Cardinals never trailed the rest of the way. Junior Broden Brooks hit three 3-pointers in the second quarter as Randolph ended the first half 9 of 20 from beyond the arc.

“Griffin (Nelson) did a good job today of attacking and finding Broden and Kevin. They were doubling Drew, so we had Griffin attacking more and finding those guys,” Hind said. “If we can have Broden Brooks with confidence, we’re a better basketball team.”

The 11-point halftime advantage proved to be just enough to hold off Panama throughout the third quarter and put the game away in the fourth.

“I thought we did a lot better job in the second half on the perimeter,” Nelson said. “I didn’t think we rebounded the ball especially well in the fourth quarter.”

Randolph will host Gowanda on Friday in a Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association Division 3 first-place showdown, while Panama will travel to Brocton that same night for a Division 2 game.

“When we try to find some nonleague opponents, (we want) the best, biggest schools we can possibly find,” Nelson said of the matchup with Randolph. “We’re going to reschedule a game with Cheektowaga, Falconer was a Class B champion last year … iron sharpens iron; just keep getting better.”

NOTES: Griffin Nelson had seven rebounds and six assists while Brooks had five rebounds for Randolph, which finished 21 of 48 (43.8%) from the field, including 11 of 31 (35.5%) from 3-point range, and turned the ball over 12 times. … Tate Catanese had seven rebounds, Hinsdale had three assists and Andrew Spiesman had three steals for Panama, which shot 17 of 51 (33.3%) from the field, including 3 of 18 (16.7%) from 3-point range, and turned the ball over just five times.

PANAMA (51)

Barmore 2 2 6, Hinsdale 4 0 10, Mescall 0 3 3, Horton 0 2 2, Brink 9 4 23, Spiesman 1 3 5, Catanese 1 2 4. Totals 17 14 51.

RANDOLPH (61)

JMorrison 0 0 0, Hind 9 3 24, McElwain 4 0 12, Nelson 1 2 4, Conley 2 3 7, Brooks 5 0 14, Huntington 0 0 0. Totals 21 8 61.

3-point goals–Hinsdale 2, Brink, Hind 3, McElwain 4, Brooks 4.

Panama 14 12 19 6 — 51

Randolph 15 22 12 12 — 61