Recap: East Canton 70, Streetsboro 62 (Or, A Tale Of Two Halves)

Overview: East Canton's strong second quarter led to a 18 point half time lead. Streetsboro came back in the second half with heavy pressure, chipping the lead all the way down to 2 in the final minutes. The Hornets hung on, surviving another challenge to their undefeated record.

Summary: If you read this blog on a regular basis (all the tens of you), your familiar with with the emphasis on the lack of a killer instinct which has been referenced often. This ability was on full display Friday night. The first quarter was a feeling out quarter. East Canton seemed in shock or overly psyched up towards the beginning of the game. I might attribute this to the sellout crowd at Streetsboro or the pressure of the polls. Either or neither way, after one quarter the score was 16-14.

The Hornets smelled blood in the second quarter, outscoring the Rockets 29-13. They seemed to be the agressor, getting all the loose balls and dominating the glass on both ends. Burfield was doing his typical work with 17 in first half (he ended with 23) and Slater, with his feathery touch, scored 14 of his 15 for the game in the second period. Streetsboro's Jay Lugo was in foul trouble in the first half and was unable to play extended minutes or be very aggressive.

Streetsboro opened the third quarter by letting East Canton know that they were not going to lay down. They picked up man-to-man in the full court and really bothered East Canton with their pressure and traps. This is the first time all year any team has been able to put the Hornets on their heels with extended pressure. East Canton seemed to be surprised that their half time lead wasn't insurmountable. Frankly, they weren't ready for the heat Streetsboro brought. In the third quarter Streetsboro cut the lead to 8 to get back within striking distance.

By the 5:06 mark in the fourth East Canton's lead was all the way down to two. Fouls and foul shots had a lot to do with the finish of this contest. With under 4 minutes remaining, and the score 60-63, a questionable foul call led to free throws. The player fouled had to be replaced after suffering from leg cramps. His substitute shooter missed the front end of the 1 and 1. Then again with 3 minutes remaining, Streetsboro missed another front end of a 1-and=1 with the same score.

Smith was fouled with 2:35 remaining and converted 1 of 2 FT's. I offer a quick word on Smith. He hurt his ankle against Rootstown and had not practiced in either of the 2 practices since that game. It was unclear if he could play in the game but tested out the ankle in warm-ups and started the Streetsboro game. He came up lame in the 3rd quarter but returned in the 4th under dire circumstances and effectively finished the game. He scored only 9 points but it was a gutty, Willis Reed-like, sacrifice for the team (Yes, I did just make that comparison).

After Smith's FT's, Lugo knocked down a 15 footer to cut the lead to two. Streetsboro stole the ball but Bradley took a charge to give the ball back to EC. Slater converted 1 of 2 FT's to push the lead back to 3. Streetsboro wouldn't score again the rest of the night. Cartwright hit Smith to push the lead to five and Bradley finished it off with ¾ FT's. Bradley had a rough ball-handling night but scored (11 points), passed (6 assists) and converted FT's (7/8) in such a manner to have a solid night.

The JV lost to Streetsboro by a score of 44-58. Shultz scored 18 points for the second straight game and Kennedy added 14.

Bits Of Randomness
In the 4th quarter Slater grabbed a loose ball and wanted to go up for a score. However, two Rockets were holding onto some of the ball and a lot of his arms. He went up for the shot and the ball barely left his hands but the two Rockets, hanging on for dear life, were hoisted up in the air like rag dolls. The play resulted in a jump ball but I enjoyed the show of brute strength.

Jay Lugo led Streetsboro with 18 points, 10 of which coming in the 3rd quarter

East Canton hit 6 3-pointers compared to Streetsboro only hitting 1

The scrappiness was on full display last night. It was shown by Cartwright's ever present defensive impact, Bradley's 5 steals (and 2 charges taken) , Slater's 11 rebounds and Smith's 9 rebounds

http://www.cantonrep.com/highschool/x1672013557/High-school-boys-basketball-results-for-Jan-15

Recap: East Canton 75, Heritage 53 (Or, Burfield, Hornets Roll Easily)

Overview: After jumping out to an early 20-point lead, East Canton finished rather lackadaisical

Summary: It didn't take long for the Hornets to establish their superiority in this contest. They jumped out to a 21-2 start and ended the first quarter up 26-4. I attribute the fast start to two things: a very passive, lazy 2-3 zone played by Heritage, and an extended trapping press slapped on by East Canton. The zone, which didn't last too long, was torched by 3-pointers and offensive rebounds. Burfield dropped 3 early 3's on way to a 19 point first half and Smith tallied up 6 rebounds and 9 points in the first quarter. The press caused frequent turnovers and forced Heritage's weaker players to handle the ball. It was effective until the lead was built up enough that it was no longer in good taste to be pressing.

Then things changed. With a big lead, the Hornets seemed content to coast to the end of the game. A killer instinct was noticeably absent. This can be shown by comparing the score differential per quarter. The first quarter ended 26-4, East Canton +22; The second quarter finished 49-17, East Canton +10 for that quarter; the third 65-30, East Canton +3 in that quarter alone; and the final quarter ended 75-53, Heritage +13. This shows a steady decline in score, but more importantly it was a steady decline in intensity, instinct and dirty work.

The leading scorer for the Hornets was Burfield with 23 points. He also led the team with 6 steals. Rebounding was distributed equally among three Hornets who all grabbed 8 boards: Campbell, Bradley and Smith. Heritage had two players get twenty or more points: Davidson with 22 (9 in the 4th) and Hill with 21 (11 in the 4th). That is an astounding 81% of their points coming from 2 players.


The JV team got back to their winning ways with a convincing victory over Heritage, 56-11. Scoring for the JVs was Kennedy 12, Shultz 11 and Taylor 10

Favorite Play
Personally, I enjoyed when a Heritage player got frightened mid-shot and managed to shoot the ball off the safety cord that hangs above the basket. If not for the cord, the ball would have easily cleared the entire backboard without question.


Bits Of Randomness
Only 4 Heritage players got in the scoring column

East Canton made 11 3-pointers compared to Heritage's 1

No foul outs tonight. My guess, this probably breaks a double digit streak of consecutive games with someone fouling out

A Free-Press article recapping the game
http://www.the-press-news.com/news/article/4742228


Some pics submitted of our student section. These submissions are encouraged and will be recognized

Recap: East Canton 66, Sandy Valley 63 [OT] (Or, Another Overtime, Another Win)

If cats have nine lives, the East Canton Hornets have at least six by my count. Seemingly dead to rights in another tough battle the Hornets found a way to win Tuesday night and move their record to 5-0.

The Sandy Valley duo of Welker and Mozden gave the Hornets fits all night. Despite frigid temperatures in the gym, these two did their best to heat things up. Mozden led the game in scoring with 24 points including three 3's. Welker had 19 points total including a 12 point flurry in the 3rd quarter. The Hornets had more of a balanced attack. Bradley ended with a team high 19 points, Burfield hit for 16, and Slater gave a much needed scoring boost with 15 points.

After 3 quarters the score broke down like this:

EC-SV
1) 9-10
2) 23-26
3) 39-42

The first lead in the 4th quarter came when Burfield knocked down a FT to put the Hornets up one, 43-42. Sandy Valley took back control of the game but East Canton never got out of striking distance. With the game tied, East Canton took a 2 point lead with :15 on a Josh Smith offensive rebound and put back. After a Sandy Valley timeout, Cody Welker found a seem and hit a running layup with :03 left. On to overtime.

With Cartwright already fouled out, the Hornets were looking for some much needed leadership. Sandy had the ball and the lead with under two minutes to go on overtime. A missed Welker 18 foot jump shot was rebounded by Slater and a foul on Sandy Valley was assessed. I would seriously question the shot selection of the Cardinals at this point. With the lead, the Hortnets were at the mercy of Sandy and the Cardinals bailed us out with a passive, long two-point attempt. Slater hit both free throws to put East Canton up one but Mozden answered back with 2 clutch free throws of his own.

With 1:05 remaining, Burfield nailed a 3 from the corner to put East Canton up two points. Sandy called timeout but had their inbound pass stolen by Bradley who was fouled. He knocked down 1 of 2 to give the Hornets a 3 point lead. Another inbound pass was stolen by Burfield off of an Elseser deflection. Burfield hit both FT's to give East Canton a 5 point lead. Mozden then hit a running shot off one foot from the top of the key. Play was stopped and refs conferred. They decided it was a three point shot even though multiple confirmed sources were adamant that he was full foot in front of the three point line.

East Canton got the ball in and Bradley was fouled with 16.1 seconds left. He hit the first and missed the second, unable to ice the game. Sandy missed a shot attempt but got their own rebound and got fouled. Mozden went to the line and netted the first free throw.

In an interesting play, Mozden tried to miss the second intentionally by throwing it directly at the rim. The ball somehow still went in but the point was waived off when Sandy was called for a lane violation. So Mozden's only FT miss of the night came because a violation waived off a made attempt that he was really trying to miss. Go figure.

Slater was fouled on the inbound with 4.1 seconds. His first attempt was left short but he buried the second. Sandy was down only 3 but their 3/4 court attempt at the buzzer was no good.

The JV team lost in the preliminary match-up, 36-50. Aaron Kennedy had 11 and Brandon Shultz contributed 10 for East Canton.

Bits of Randomness
Another trend with Burfield (See previous post for first) seems to be scoring 16 points, no more or less. In five games his point total has landed ended with 16 on 3 separate occasions

Slater had 8 of his 15 points in the second quarter

Smith and Slater each pulled down 10+ rebounds. This is the first time this season that two players have had double-digit rebounds in the same game
__________________________________________________

Canton Rep Links:
http://www.cantonrep.com/highschool/x1055575399/High-school-boys-basketball-results-for-Dec-22

http://www.cantonrep.com/highschool/x1107767813/High-school-boys-basketball-report-for-Dec-22


HAPPY HOLIDAYS

Recap: East Canton 67, Woodridge 62

Even though it seemed that East Canton dominated the majority of the game, it came down to the wire. The Hornets jumped out to an 11-0 lead to start the game and didn't give up a single point until 1:45 remaining in the first period. A run by Woodridge and a tight lid on the East Canton's goal let Woodridge get back in the game. Into the half the score was East Canton 24 to Woodridge's 23.

The Hornets came out strong in the second half with a 10-0 run to push their lead up to 11. But Woodridge made another run of their own to keep the game tight all the way until the finish. It came down to free throws and after shaky attempts by a myriad of Hornets, Joe Cartwright stepped up to ice the game with 3 of 4 in the clutch. Coach Spurgeon had this to say, "We left quite a bit of points at the free throw line tonight. We missed 3 front ends of 1 and 1's and didn't shoot with confidence late in the game until Joe did his thing."

Smith played a man size game when he wasn't in foul trouble, pouring in 19 points and 10 rebounds. The leading scorer for the game was Woodridge's Derek Morgan with 20. Burfield had a quite 16 points and did his best to hold together the team free throw performance by going 7 of 8. Bradley had a rough night from the field but contributed in other ways, getting his hands on countless passes and tough rebounds. He finished with 8 points, 7 assists and 7 steals.

The Jv lost in their 2nd consecutive outing. Leading the way in the 55-35 loss was Shultz with 14 and Taylor with 8.

Bits of Randomness
#21 for Woodridge swatted away plethora of Hornet attempts to score. He also wore Chuck Taylor shoes which I haven't seen personally in a high school game since... well, ever

Burfield got fouled on yet another 3 point attempt. My count has him being fouled on a 3 point attempt 3 times in 4 games

East Canton forced 4 turnovers by Woodridge to start the game. Their 11-0 run at the beginning of the 1st period was aided by allowing only 1 FG attempt in the first 5 possessions

Joe Carwright's one dribble pull-up move looked silky against Woodridge. This would be expected since he currently holds the Hornet practice title for "King of the Wing", a 1 on 1 drill played against the other Hornet wing players


Next up is Sandy Valley on Tuesday. Another away game for the Hornets.


Here is a picture Sam Gilbert submitted of himself modeling a pair of Chuck Taylor All-Stars during his playing days:


Thanks, Sam