On Monday the 27th and Tuesday the 28th the Canton Golden Bears hosted Edwards-Knox, Madrid-Waddington, and Ogdensburg Free Academy in the annual Burkman tournament. After the tournament not taking place last year due to Covid, The Bears Sold out and both JV and varsity teams won the tournament.
In the first round of the tournament the Bears cruised by the Edwards-Knox Cougars. The Bears played stellar defense, not allowing the Cougars in double-digits until the fourth quarter. On the offensive side the Bears distributed the ball very well, as no player scored over 7 points. The Bears bench played phenomenal as all but two players from the Bears scored.
After the win over Edwards-Knox the Bears moved on to the Burkman championship to play against the Ogdensburg Blue Devils. The two had met earlier in the season. In their previous meeting the Bears snuck by the Devils 41-40. Coming out in the first quarter the Bears were very aggressive on all sides of the court. Driving to the basket, attacking passing lanes, and drawing fouls. Because of this the Bears outscored the Devils 15-6 in the first. Despite an awful performance from the free throw line in the (3-9), Canton lead the Devils 34-12 at the end of the first half.
Knowing they needed a lot of buckets quickly, Ogdensburg came out of the half in a full-court press. The press resulted in 6 Canton turnovers leading to Ogdensburg points. In the third the Devils thinned the lead a little by outscoring Canton 7 to 6.
Thanks to stellar games from Francey, Redfern, and Todd the Bears came out triumphant 42-23. After the end of the game awards were presented. From Canton, Paul Redfern and Charlie Todd made the All-Tournament Team and Ethan Francey won the MVP award.
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