Wednesday, February 22, 2006
The Cardinals forced 17 turnovers in the 63-36 win.
By GREG GULAS
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
BOARDMAN -- Kyle Melewski scored 15 points and dished out six assists Tuesday as the Canfield High boys basketball team defeated Boardman, 63-36.
The Cardinals' defense held Boardman to three points in the second quarter.
Mike Rounsavall added 14 points and Joe Carbon chipped in with 10 as the Cardinals held a 33-21 rebound advantage, forcing the Spartans into 17 turnovers in a game that featured 31 miscues between the two teams.
The win, the ninth in a row for Canfield, gives the Cardinals a 14-5 mark heading into their regular-season finale against Austintown Fitch on Friday.
The Spartans, finishing the regular season with a 10-10 ledger, dropped their second straight outing and will now prepare now for tournament play. Boardman's first-round opponent is Lake; the game will be played Tuesday at the Canton Civic Center.
Good effort
"We played pretty well in the first half and I was really pleased with our overall effort," Canfield coach John Cullen said. "Both teams are deep but our squad contributed just a little more tonight.
"We had a great defensive effort in the second quarter and that pretty much set the tone of the game for us," Cullen said. "They have excellent shooters from beyond the arc and the proof is the fact that they made seven 3-point shots tonight.
"When they [Boardman] get their feet set, they are quite dangerous to defend," Cullen said. "They had more open shots than we cared for them to have tonight."
Melewski's two free throws and triple offset a trey and conventional three-point play by Boardman's Andrew Chifolo, giving the Cardinals a 9-8 advantage at the 4:31 mark of the opening period.
Taking control
The Cardinals went on a 10-0 run to take a 19-8 lead, and after holding the Spartans scoreless for 7:13, scored 26 of the next 32 points to forge a 35-14 halftime advantage.
"We got off to a bad start tonight," Boardman coach Jared Cardillo said. "You cannot go down that many points, that quick against a good team like Canfield if you expect to win.
"We played hard but were not patient enough offensively," Cardillo said. "We feel like the program is headed in the right direction; however, it is tough to feel that tonight."
Gurpreet Singh scored five of his eight points in the third quarter, keying a 15-8 run for the Cardinals as they built a 50-22 margin after 24 minutes of play.
Canfield was 23 of 54 from the field and 4 of 10 from beyond the arc while the Spartans could manage just 13 of 47 from the field and connected on just seven of 26 attempts from beyond the arc.
Canfield canned 13-16 free throw attempts while the Spartans canned all three of their attempts from the charity stripe.