Canfield outlasts East in two OTs

By Doug Chapin

Both teams shot poorly at the foul line as the Cardinals prevailed 61-59.

YOUNGSTOWN — The Canfield and East High boys basketball teams will take several positives from Canfield’s 61-59 double-overtime victory in Saturday’s fourth annual Youngstown-Warren Holiday Basketball Classic at the Chevrolet Centre.

One negative both coaching staffs certainly will be stressing this week in practice is free throw shooting. The winners shot just 57 percent (12-for-21) from the line and East made just 41 percent (9-for-22) of its free throws.

Ironically, a deliberately missed free throw nearly sent the game into a third overtime.

With five-tenths of a second remaining in the second overtime, the Panthers’ Mark Thornton made the first of two foul shots. He then purposely missed the second shot and teammate Kenny Carter’s tip-in try bounced off the rim.

“If we had taken care of the ball better, we could have put the game away earlier,” Canfield coach John Cullen said. “But that’s also a credit to East. They never gave up.

“I’ve always said that how quickly you mature as a team will determine what kind of season you’re going to have,” Cullen said. “I think both teams can take a lot out of a game like that, whether you win or lose.

“You don’t find out a lot when you win by 20, but you find out a lot when you play double overtime in a strange place.”

East coach Mark Cherol said, “That’s the hardest I’ve seen my team play in the two seasons we’ve been here. I’m so proud of them.

“We didn’t finish like we should have toward the end, but defensively, they played as hard as I asked them to play,” Cherol said.

Canfield (2-0) held a 58-53 lead with two minutes left in the second overtime, before Carter scored five straight points to knot the game at the 1:08 mark. Canfield’s Adam Muth responded with a basket 11 seconds later, then Justen Vrabel’s free throw pushed the Cardinals’ lead to 61-58.

In the first overtime, East (1-2) took a 53-52 lead with 42 seconds showing on the clock, but Vrabel’s foul shot at the 14-second mark sent the game to another extra session.

East, which trailed 28-21 at halftime and 33-25 just over two minutes later, went on an 11-0 run with Carter, usually the Panthers’ top scorer, on the bench in foul trouble.

“I don’t like to make excuses, but Kenny Carter was very ill last night after practice,” Cherol said. “I didn’t think he was going to play today, and he had the ACT [exam] this morning.

“He had an off night and didn’t play to his potential,” Cherol said. “But the other guys stepped up tonight and that shows that we can play even when Kenny is down.”

East held its largest lead, 43-39, at the 6:31 mark of period four before Canfield responded to go back on top 47-44 with 3:17 left to play.

The Panthers regained the lead at 49-47, then a Casey Carroll hoop with 53 seconds on the clock set the final regulation score, 49-49.

“We are missing two players [Eli Lamberson and Anoop Bal] so some of the guys had to stretch their roles,” Cullen said. “When they stretch their roles that’s asking a lot of them, and East poses a lot of problems athletically.”

Mike Podolski had 22 points to lead Canfield and also contributed seven rebounds. Vrabel scored 14 points and grabbed 15 rebounds, helping the Cardinals to a 41-28 edge on the boards. Carroll contributed 13 points and seven rebounds, and Muth had 10 points and four assists.

Anthony Bowers led the East offense with 14 points, Jarelle Burt contributed 12 points and six assists, Thornton had 10 points and seven rebounds, Carter finished with nine points and four assists and Norman Johnson contributed 10 points off the bench.