Boys' basketball team upsets OA
By Mike Berger
Citizen Staff
CHS basketball
coach Mike Devoll summed it up best after Canton’s big win over
Oliver Ames last week.
“When we play
up tempo, attack the basket, and limit our turnovers, we can
play with anyone,” he said. “But when we play passive
basketball, stuff that can put you to sleep, we can also lose to
anyone.”
Last week,
Canton upped the tempo and played great two-way basketball in a
70-56 upset of Oliver Ames, and competitive basketball in a
71-56 loss to Franklin, but did not play well in a 52-41 road
loss to Foxboro Friday night.
The Bulldogs
were 5-11 going into this week, and in order to make the
playoffs they must win the last game of the year on February 15
at home against Division 3 Fairhaven. Canton can enter the state
playoffs by winning 50 percent of its Division 3 contests.
At home on
Wednesday, January 27, the 30-second shot clock was not working,
and A.J. Nichols was in foul trouble early in the game. But
three Bulldogs had banner games and anyone Devoll put into the
lineup contributed. Dan Boivert had a great shooting game with
19 points; Marc Abelard played great two-way basketball with 15
points, and Max Guillaume had 13 points and six steals. The
Bulldogs had contributions both offensively and defensively from
inside players Zia Wiggins, Tyler Gavigan and Josh Sheehan and
guards Chris Murray and Joe McCabe.
With great
team defense, multiple steals from Guillaume, good shooting from
Boivert and great two-way play from Abelard, Canton shot its way
to a 31-15 halftime lead over (9-5) Oliver Ames. The Tigers came
back fast, exerting a full-court defense and good outside
shooting to cut the lead to 51-50 with 4:50 left in the game.
But Boivert’s
jump shooting and key free throws by Gavigan gave Canton some
breathing room at 56-50 with 3:40 left to play. More free throws
by Guillaume and Murray helped seal the win.
Oliver Ames
did not employ a zone defense against Canton, but Foxboro dared
Canton to shoot in its half-court zone defense, and it gave the
Bulldogs trouble all night. Canton fell into a hole early,
trailing 18-11 at the end of the first quarter and 27-17 at the
half.
The Bulldogs
rebounded early in the third quarter behind Boivert, Nichols and
Guillaume as the lead was cut to four with five minutes left.
But turnovers and mistakes continued to plague the Bulldogs, and
the Warriors took advantage.
Foxboro
increased the lead to 11 by the end of the third quarter and to
18 in the fourth before Canton had a late-game flurry of offense
from Colby Gavigan, Sheehan and Wiggins. Boivert was the
Bulldogs’ high scorer with nine points and McCabe came off the
bench to add seven.
Devoll was
happy with his team’s overall performance against league-leading
Franklin (13-2) as the Bulldogs kept things close throughout the
game. Canton trailed the Panthers 30-23 at the end of the first
quarter, 53-40 at the end of the third quarter and cut the lead
to seven points midway through the fourth.
The Bulldogs
were scheduled to play their last four games of the regular
season this week: Tuesday at home against North Attleboro,
Friday at home against Stoughton, on the road against King
Philip on February 12 and the final game, Monday, February 15,
against Fairhaven.
February 4, 2010
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