Canfield keeps Campbell in check, wins, 51-40

Sean Baker played good defense against Campbell's Jermaine Richardson.
By JOHN KOVACH
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
CANFIELD -- Campbell Memorial High has a very athletic, quick and high-jumping basketball team.
But Canfield beat the Red Devils at their own game Tuesday at the Cardinals' gym in a key Metro Athletic Conference matchup between two of the top teams in the league.
Canfield won the rebounding battle to limit Campbell to very few second shots, while Joe Carbon fired in 22 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead the Cardinals to a 51-40 victory to extend their winning streak to seven games.
"The key to the game was rebounding. We scrapped pretty good rebounding. We weren't giving them any extra shots and they weren't making [too many of the ones they got]," said Coach John Cullen of Canfield (7-1, 3-0 MAC), whose Cardinals held close to a 28-20 advantage off the boards."
Whenever Campbell began to rally and challenge Canfield, the Red Devils would end up missing a shot or turning over the ball.
Carbon leads charge
"Canfield boxed us out and was rebounding. They had more second-shot opportunities," said coach Brian Danilov of Campbell (5-2, 2-1 MAC), whose Red Devils trailed by only one point at the half, 21-20, before Canfield charged to eight unanswered points, four by Carbon, to take a 29-20 lead.
After that, the Cardinals managed to maintain the lead by repelling Campbell's spurts with different defensive tactics besides rebounding.
"They play in spurts," said Cullen of Campbell's offense. So, "You have to do something different on defense, give them a little different look. We did that in the second half more than in the first half."
Danilov said Campbell played erratically.
"You can't play basketball in spots. You can't play any game in spots," said Danilov, conceding his team had chances to get back into the game but their rallies fizzled.
"Every time we were making a run we'd miss a shot or have a turnover. Every time we got close we did those things."
Hoelzel, Bellish help
Mike Hoezel added 11 points for Canfield before fouling out while Patrick Bellish contributed eight -- all in the second half -- as the Cardinals made 19-for-38 from the field.
Jermaine Richardson scored 15 points for Campbell -- almost all of them in the first half -- while Bryant Burt added 10, as the Red Devils hit 16-for-38 from the field.
Cullen said Sean Baker did a good job guarding Richardson.
"Richardson had 13 points in the first half and [only] two in the second half," Cullen said. "Baker played him straight up most of the game. [Baker] did a very good job. Any shots that [Richardson] took, [Baker] made him work for them."
Richardson scored six straight points to pull Campbell within 21-20 at the half, but that was the closest Campbell got to tying the game.
Carbon had six points and Bellish four in the third quarter to lead Canfield to a 35-28 lead, and then Carbon scored five points in a row to enable the Cardinals to expand their lead to 42-30.
Then Canfield eventually boosted its advantage to 51-38 on Bellish' goal. Bellish had six of his points in the last period.
kovach@vindy.com