Canton 66, Lisbon 40
The Bears were absolutely rolling coming into this week on a 10-game winning streak, ready to up that against a tough, but undermanned Lisbon team that plays only six. A lot of times Coach Lassial likes to schedule these out-of-conference non-league games against teams like Lisbon, because they come into your gym with a chip on their shoulder, ready to pull off the upset despite the smaller size of their school.
The chip on Lisbon’s shoulder was palpable after a tough first quarter. Canton is ranked very highly in the ladder of Class B teams in New York State and Lisbon came into their gym and was winning after the first, 15-14.
Cooper Rutherford had 11 of those 15 and was playing with energy on the glass, getting fouled, and scoring easy layups on one of the best defenders in the section, John Wilcox. Ian Quinlan of the visiting squad was also a problem, holding Zadok Roiger of Canton to zero first quarter points, which would develop to just two at the half of his 16.8 average. Charlie Todd, on the other hand, scored seven first quarter points and is really coming into his own as an offensive player, scoring just under nine a game for the Bears, including about 13 in the last three games as teams are starting to figure out how to hold Zadok Roiger to a less prominent scoring role.
After a big three-pointer, Lisbon was up four early in the second, and it looked like it would be a game that would come down to the fourth quarter, but some stellar shooting in the second fended off any Lisbon hope. After the second quarter, it was 35-20 following a 21-2 Canton run. This kills hot was fueled by Lucas Howie and Aidan Richardson. Richardson got the party started with a three, followed up by an insanely difficult up and under from the second hash all in the air, which displayed fantastic touch and body control, along with another three. Lisbon was sagging off of Richardson and Howie to try to prevent the undeniable impact that Roiger and Jackson Ames had inside, which proved to be a mistake, as the supporting cast proved that you can’t guard the Bears that way. Howie also had three threes in the first half on three attempts which had all but put the nail in the coffin in the first half for Lisbon.
The third quarter was less interesting, full transparency. Good shot selection, great defense, and hustle led the Bears to a 52-27 lead. The Bears shot a very encouraging 49.4 percent from three this game on a season high nine threes, and this impressive shooting performance gives a lot of way to how the blowout win occurred.
The fourth quarter went very similar to the last two. Reserves came in with about six minutes left and finished the game pretty well. Lassial implemented a strategy in which Juniors on the team will just have to play the starters, and often, this encompasses getting beaten pretty bad, but it’s gotten them better after the Heuvelton game and giving more hope for the future.
Canton 58, Massena 21
The two previous games these two teams played were closer, one being a blowout, but not to this degree, and the other being an eight-point win in the Berkman Tournament, but this game had an obvious disparity in that Massena lost senior 1,000 point scorer Taylor Mitchell to a broken wrist. Mitchell not only scored a lot, but he is one of the fastest players in the section, and he opens things up for other players on the floor.
The first quarter started out in an 8-0 run in favor of the Bears and it looked like the game was going to be over from the start. This thought was quickly hushed by a 7-0 run to make it an 8-7 game and it looked like maybe another gritty, close game despite the loss of Mitchell. The Bears ended up going up 12-7 at the buzzer of the first on an impressive, near half-court shot from Zadok Roiger.
Massena was able to keep it a single digit game for the bulk of the second quarter, but consistent defensive play and a grind-out style on offense led the Bears to a 13-point lead at half, with their usual stellar defense and good enough offense.
The third quarter is where it broke open. Charlie Todd and Jackson Ames combined for 16 this quarter. The Bears scored a total of 25 points this quarter on astounding 73 percent shooting. The Raiders sunk back into a zone that did not work at all, and never strayed from their identity, which one can respect. But if a team wants any chance at competing in states, they need to have adaptability to play against any style, fast or slow, zone or man, paint or outside, team or individual. Teams don’t often have 5 great individual defenders at smaller schools, so they resort to zone, which teams in Albany, and Syracuse will pick apart, hence why the Bears being able to play many styles will help.
The game ended up in a massive blowout going into a week with (hopefully) a route 11 rivalry home game against Potsdam after the away game got postponed twice on Thursday for the Bears in a heavyweight matchup.