Recap: Hornets 43, Youngstown Ursuline 40 (Or, Hornets Survive, Advance)

The Rep On East Canton V Ursuline
http://www.cantonrep.com/highschool/x2096601980/East-Canton-Hornets-keep-the-dream-going

The Rep On Our Opponent Tuesday, Aquinas
http://www.cantonrep.com/highschool/x2096602038/Aquinas-boys-advance-to-play-East-Canton

Watching last night's game I felt a flurry of emotions. At times I wanted to laugh, other times I wanted to cry. Another time I wanted to wake up because I was sure the game was nightmare of mine. Then, I had a momentary bit of confidence that the game would turn out in East Canton's favor - only to be followed by a strong feeling of impending doom. But I survived my emotional roller coaster, and so did the Hornets.

Here are some of the stats of East Canton

Free Throws - 15/28
Three-Point Shooting - 2/20 total, 0/15 in first half
Two-Point Shooting - 11/52
Overall Field Goals - 13/72 (18%)

And that's the winning team!

Ursuline was equally as ugly in their own way. Their poisons were turnovers (24), free throws (4/11) and three-point shooting (0/10).

After the worst half of basketball played all year by the Hornets, they still managed to hold a one point lead at the half. This despite spending most of the first half rushing shots and getting blocked. The length and athleticism clearly bothered the Hornets. Long arms made Hornet jump shots get released earlier than usual and those same long arms rejected numerous shots and altered many more.

The refs called the game like a tournament game. Fouls seemed reserved for only blatant offenses. With East Canton being the undersized team, this was not in the Hornets favor. This won't change though. And I don't believe it's a problem because the Hornets are tough. They fought hard for those balls without getting calls and I'm positive they will remain the tough, scrappy bunch that got them this far.

The game stayed remarkably close throughout the whole contest. At the end of each quarter the largest scoring margin was 3. Ursuline led by 2 after 1 quarter, East Canton by 1 at halftime, East Canton by 1 again at the end of 3 quarters, and finally, East Canton by 3 to end the game. I'm not sure what the biggest deficit either team faced but 5 points would have been a big lead for either team to hold at any point in the game.

On a night where it seemed the entire team was having an off night, Burfield led the team with 12 points. He got 8 of those in the 3rd (a period the Hornets only scored 13 points total). Bradley had 11 points, 5 rebounds and 3 steals. Smith had 10 rebounds to go with his 7 points. Ursuline was paced by #15 Gregory with 12 points. He had a money pull-up jump shot and gave the Hornets fits trying to keep him out of the paint. Ursuline's big scorer, Jenkins, was held in check and only finished with 7 points.

The Hornets play next Tuesday against St. Thomas Aquinas at 8pm. This should be the most chaotic environment of the season. Aquinas has a top-notch student section so the Hornet fans may need to take it up another notch for this one.