Boys' hoop team nets
overtime win
By Mike Berger
Citizen Staff
It was a mixed
week for the 2-7 CHS boys’ basketball team with an exciting
overtime win at home over Southeastern Regional Vo-Tech and
hard-fought losses to North Attleboro and Stoughton.
 Canton scored
its highest point total offensively with an 83-80 win over
Southeastern but fell to North Attleboro 56-42 and to Stoughton
61-51.
“We are
getting better on offense, but we are still learning about each
other,” said CHS coach Mike Devoll.
Sophomore
players Scott Levy, Joe McCabe, Chris Murray and Colby Gavigan
have been playing well, and Devoll has been mixing them in with
shooting forward and team-leading scorer Dan Boivert, senior
guard Marc Abelard, along with the inside work of senior forward
Tyler Gavigan, center A.J. Nicols and reserve center and forward
Zia Wiggins.
The offense
has ranged in productivity and has been idle at times while the
team defense has been overall sound but prone to lapses in
defending the three-point shot.
“In close
games we still have a lot of issues getting over the hump and
getting that consistency,” Devoll said.
In one of the
most exciting games of the season, Colby Gavigan’s steal and
driving layup with less than a minute left in overtime and Tyler
Gavigan’s free throw with three seconds left in the game was the
difference for Canton in a win over SVT. Nichols had a strong
game with 22 points, including many offensive rebounds. Aiding
the offense were Tyler Gavigan and Abelard, each with 14 points,
and Wiggins, who came off the bench to score eight.
With Levy at
point guard, Canton jumped to a 47-34 halftime advantage, led by
Nichols with 12 points and Tyler Gavigan and Boivert with nine
apiece.
SVT rebounded
early in the third quarter, outscoring the Bulldogs 13-0 in
about three minutes of play, but the lead seesawed back and
forth in the latter stages of the game. SVT pulled ahead by four
points with 1:43 to go in the game, but four free throws by
Tyler Gavigan tied it up with .54 seconds left in the game.
Canton had a chance to win it in the last 20 seconds but missed
a free throw.
In overtime,
SVT pulled ahead by four with 1:21 left, but Nichols rescued the
Bulldogs with an inside drive and an Abelard drive with a great
assist from McCabe tied the game at 80 with 1:11 to go. Canton
played some great defense with Colby Gavigan coming through with
a big steal and drive.
In the
Stoughton loss, the Black Knights used their height and
rebounding advantage along with three-point shooting by guard
Kris Joyce (20 points) to pull ahead in the fourth quarter.
Both teams
were ice cold in the first quarter, each scoring six points, and
the game was still a defensive struggle at halftime, with
Stoughton holding a 21-20 advantage.
Stoughton led
30-26 with four minutes remaining in the third quarter, when
Levy came out with an ankle injury.
Nichols
answered with some inside baskets, but the Black Knights
increased their lead to 40-33. Canton got as close as five
points thanks to baskets by Abelard and Tyler Gavigan with 6:38
left in the game. But then Joyce went on a nine-point scoring
spree with four consecutive baskets and Stoughton led 52-38 with
4:21 on the clock.
Tyler Gavigan
was high man for Canton with ten points. Abelard and Nichols
each had eight, and Wiggins added six. Levy played well prior to
his injury, and McCabe showed his shooting potential with two
long-range shots,
The North
Attleboro game was another defensive battle until the
Rocketeers’ three-point shooting proved to be the difference.
Canton’s next
game is this Friday, January 15, at home against King Philip at
6:30 p.m. The Bulldogs will host Mansfield to start the second
half of the season on Tuesday, January 19, with a special start
time of 5:30 p.m. The team will play the next day at
Southeastern Vo-Tech at 3:45 p.m.
January 14, 2010
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