Canfield jumps out to early lead then rolls against Niles

The Cardinals, who lost to the Dragons earlier, took a 22-1 lead and won 75-38.
By CHUCK HOUSTEAU
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
CANFIELD -- There was not going to be any buzzer-beating victory shots in this game between Canfield and Niles.
That was evident from the start.
In the first meeting between the Cardinals and Red Dragons this season, Niles stormed back from a
seven-point deficit in the fourth quarter and won the game on a 3-point shot at the buzzer, 49-46.
Friday night, Canfield (8-5, 3-3) raced out to a 22-1 lead in the first quarter and never looked back in beating the Red Dragons, 75-38.
Four Canfield players scored in double figures while Niles' sharpshooters never could find their shooting touches the entire contest.
Schuchler leads way
Kyle Schuchler ran the Canfield offense and scored a game-high 14 points while Mike Rounsavall and Kyle Melewski each scored 12 points. Joe Carbon came off the bench to score 10 points.
"Not tonight," said Canfield coach John Cullen when asked about Niles' late game heroics in the first contest between the teams. "Our objective was a defensive mentality that was going to make it tough for [Niles] to operate from the three-point line.
"You don't come up with any fancy game plans for Niles," Cullen said. "They're too good. You just want to stay in front of their shooters and make it difficult for them.
"That's what we did in the first half and I don't think they got three open shots the entire first half."
Dragons shot poorly
Niles (9-5, 4-2) is one of the top 3-point shooting teams in the Metro Athletic Conference but the Red Dragons shot a dismal 2-for-24 from beyond the arc.
Canfield, meanwhile, put on a scoring clinic in the first two periods as the Cardinals led 43-14 at the break.
Six different Canfield players scored in the first quarter as the Cardinals found the bottom of the net from inside the paint and from behind the 3-point line.
Rounsavall and Troy Gessner did most of their work scoring easy baskets inside, while Schuchler, Melewski and Carbon were knocking down jump shots.
"We got a lot of people involved in the offense in the first half," Cullen said. "Schuchler really had his pulse on the game and keeping things running smooth and everyone was very unselfish tonight.
"It's hard to survive a half like we had in this league and come back and win."
Better second half
Niles did a better job in the second half and was able to outscore Canfield 12-10 in the third quarter but the deficit was too large to overcome.
"Canfield took us out of everything we do in that first half," said Niles coach Ron Price. "They really dominated and put it to us.
"It was a great effort on their part. We're really disappointed but we'll move on and bounce back."
Price said he knew Canfield would have a little revenge factor working in this game because of the stunning win in Niles.
"We knew they would be ready to play," Price said. "They hit a lot of shots early and things just kind of snowballed."
Niles was led in scoring by Justin Allen who had 12 points while Bill Frech added eight.