MAC BOYS Canfield downs Poland, 61-50

The Cardinals finally played well at the end for their second MAC win.
BY ERIC HAMILTON
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
POLAND -- Canfield High boys basketball coach John Cullen hasn't been pleased with how his team has played in the fourth quarter this season.
Knowing that something needed to change if his squad expects to recover from an 0-3 start in the Metro Athletic Conference, Cullen made some adjustments in practice in preparation for Tuesday's game against rival Poland.
"We changed the way we have been attacking at the end of the game," said Cullen. "We're starting to figure some things out now and I'm hoping the things we've changed will make a difference."
Canfield's new approach paid dividends against the Bulldogs, as the Cardinals outscored Poland 12-3 in the final 2:47 to pull away for a 61-50 victory at the Poland Fieldhouse.
"We've had trouble closing teams out all season," explained Cullen. "This is the first time all year that we have righted the ship when we needed to in the fourth quarter. Poland did a nice job making a run at the end, but we were able to break their press and finish on the offensive end. I think that was the key tonight."
Bulldogs made it tough
Although Canfield pulled away in the end, Poland certainly didn't make things easy. The Bulldogs stormed back from a 10-point deficit with 5:37 left in the fourth to cut a 46-36 Bulldog lead to 49-47 at the 2:47 mark.
But after a Canfield timeout, the Cardinals closed things out, led by junior Sean Baker, who finished off a 10-point fourth quarter with key buckets off the press breaker.
Baker finished 12 points in the contest. Mike Rounsavall led Canfield with 13, Gurpreet Singh added 11 and Kyle Schuchler chipped in 10 points.
Poland gave Canfield all it could handle in the early going, building an 18-17 advantage in the second quarter. But the Cardinals put together an 8-0 outburst to seize a 25-18 advantage with 1:13 remaining before halftime.
In the third, the Bulldogs increased their lead to 30-20 on a Troy Gessner free throw at the 5:33 mark.
Lovell leads Poland
But Poland guard Chris Lovell scored eight straights points to pull is team to within 30-28 with 4:13 left in the third stanza. Lovell finished the game with a team-high 13 points.
But that rally, along with the one in the fourth quarter, wasn't enough to give Poland its first league win.
The victory improved Canfield's record to 7-5 overall and 2-3 in the MAC. Poland, the defending league champion, fell to 4-8 and 0-5.
"This has been the story of our season so far," said Poland coach Ken Grisdale. "We've lost five MAC games and we've had opportunities to win them in the fourth quarter, but just can't get over the hump.
"Our kids played hard and got back into the game, but Canfield got some breakaway buckets by beating our pressure and got the win. I just wish our kids could find a way to handle things better at the end of games. They play hard, but our inexperience shows at times."