Canton 76, Saranac 48
For the first matchup of the season, the Golden Bears traveled 2 hours to Saranac Central to face the Spartans of Section VII for the first matchup of the year. The Spartans retained a solid corps of Juniors from 2024-2025 for a team that was very competitive. This game was the debut of the new pace and space offense for the Bears, and it went extremely well, as they put of 76 points on 67 shots , way up from the 50.8 points and 46.2 shots per game that they had last year.
The Bears opened the game on a killshot (10 point run or better) as a balanced attack sparked the Bears offense with Ciaran O’Brien getting a bunny, Will Andes drilling a three, Zadok Roiger getting five early points with a put back and a bucket that he got fouled on, and Daniel O’Neill scoring a layup, as four of five starters got involved early to start the game up 12-2.
Saranac mounted a slight comeback in the 2nd to cut the lead to 23-19 through tough shot making, but it was clear that Canton was taking and making more sustainable shots, exemplified by their 54% field goal percentage from 2. Canton went into halftime up 35-21 on the backs of great scoring performances by Andes and Roiger along with pesky perimeter defense that generated turnovers.
Assistant Coach Bill Porter remarked during halftime “That was decent out there, but now it’s time for the fun part” referring to the second half. This prophecy came true as sporadic bunches of points from the Bears offense driven by a scalding shooting day by Andes led the Bears to a 27 point quarter on impressive efficiency to put their total at 62 with a quarter of the game still left.
The end of the game came soon as the starters were soon pulled, and Canton won 76-48 in an offensive explosion. Zadok Roiger and Will ANdes had 21 and 23 respectively on a combined 60% from the field, and Ciaran O’Brien had 11 to be the only other Bear in double figures. The team was 30/67 from the field and 7/13 from the free throw line, while Saranac only took 50 shots, displaying the effort by the Bears. They went 10 deep and all of them seemed very capable at playing this kind of style which lends itself to a 10 deep rotation. The Bears look ahead to their first league game of the year at home against Massena on Tuesday the 9th, looking to start a win streak.