Canton 48, Ogdensburg 40
After one of the biggest games of the year thus far for Canton—a visit to Potsdam to take on the Sandstoners—was postponed due to severe weather conditions, the Bears looked ahead to a home tilt against the rival Ogdensburg Blue Devils. Ogdensburg had played a relatively easy schedule, but they were sitting at 20th in the state with a surprisingly experienced group of juniors and sophomores.
The Bears defense had been the bright spot of the year at this pivotal point, holding opponents to just 44 points per game on relatively poor efficiency at 38% from the floor. The first quarter exemplified that, as it wasn’t exactly perfect on the offensive side of the ball, scoring just nine points, but holding the other team to just two points may be the best defensive quarter they’ve played all season.
One thing this team has struggled with on defense is “getting off of the bus” as Coach Troy Lassial likes to refer to it. With a home game this exact term doesn’t apply, but getting warmed up to the game flow has not been a strong suit. Up to this point, the Bears were at a -9% field goal percentage differential. Shooting 34% and letting opponents shoot 43% is not a strong case to win. This game saw a completely opposite result, as the home team went 4-11, not ideal but decent, especially when the opponent just shoots 1-6.
The second quarter has been the Bears best efficiency wise. It is then that they shoot 41% and hold the opposition to an astounding 28% from the field throughout the season. This one went a little bit differently. Ogdensburg found ways to score, and in the second, that primarily involved Ian Rose. They opened up the quarter in a 9-0 run including five from the stretch big Rose. He hit another three after a layup by Canton and suddenly the Blue Devils had the 14-11 lead. From that point on it was all Canton going on a 9-0 run, but a response left the score 20-16 at halftime. Allowing 14 points does not reach the high standard that Coach Lassial knew the Bears could reach, especially after establishing the two-point quarter mark in the first.
The third started with a quick hitting five points from Junior point guard Jack Pike of OFA. He displayed fantastic touch and game managing skills this game and was one of the biggest reasons the Blue Devils stayed in this game. Beside that, there were no real major runs in this quarter, and another 14 point quarter from the Blue Devils was not ideal, but the Bears had a little more juice offensively, with 16 points. Zadok Roiger, recently back from a foot injury that was thought to have maybe sidelined him for two games, but both got postponed, so there were no real repercussions for the injury, and he had 19, clearly not missing a beat. He had seven of the 16 points for Canton.
The fourth quarter started with a big boon from the Bears, as Senior John Wilcox—known as more of a defensive stopper than an offensive juggernaut—knocked down his second three of the night, and after his performance he is 3 for 5 on the season, the best three point percentage on the team, even though Roiger is shooting an unfathomable 50% from downtown on four attempts per game, as opposed to Wilcox’s half an attempt per game. This pushed the lead to nine, the largest of the night, and they really never looked back. It was a 2 or 3 possession game all throughout the fourth quarter, and despite the best efforts by OFA, it wasn’t enough.
The Bears look ahead to a road trip to Heuvelton to face the bulldogs as their lone game on a light week game wise. A very important stretch is coming up though, as seeding will prove to be very important in the playoffs for the class B title of section X.
