Canfield wears out Howland

The tired Tigers couldn’t match the Cardinals’ effort in a MAC game.

By JOHN BASSETTI

VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF

HOWLAND — For John Cullen, it was about being on a mission.

For Don Andres, it was about who didn’t score.

Cullen, Canfield’s coach, was satisfied that his Cardinals played with verve in their 50-31 win over Howland.

Andres, Howland’s coach, is frustrated because he can’t do much about Nathan Cope’ s slow recovery from an ankle injury — a problem that limited the Tigers’ leading scorer to just two points Friday night in the Metro Athletic Conference game.

Cullen said he was upset at the lack of spirit from his players Tuesday, when Canfield beat Struthers at the Chevrolet Centre.

“We didn’t look like a team on a mission. Tonight, it wasn’t a clinic as far as mistake-free, but the effort level was there the whole night. It’s easy to see teams that are on a mission, it’s easy to see teams that aren’t. We weren’t that team Tuesday night; tonight we were. I was really happy with that.”

Generally, Cullen’s players are good at causing turnovers and making the most of their possessions.

That was the bottom line against Howland, a team the Cardinals beat on Dec. 21, 64-51.

Andrew Kuchmaner and Matt Keating had 10 points apiece and Kuchmaner got nine of his team’s 41 rebounds in a game that started with a 10-point first quarter.

In the first eight minutes, the Cardinals made 2-of-14 field goals — including 0-for-5 beyond the arc, while Howland was just 2-of-12. Canfield improved to hit 6-of-13 in the second quarter, while the Tigers were 6-of-12.

Canfield held a 19-16 halftime lead, but went on a 10-0 run in the third period to break it open.

“If the kids fight for every possession — make it a possession war, and it usually is against Howland — it’s hard to score,” Cullen said. “It was hard to score in the first half. Once we got the lead a little, things opened up. We only had 10 easy points at halftime, but we had 23 the second half and that makes things flow. That negates some of their size — when we’re getting the ball on the break. But I thought we rebounded pretty well considering how big they were. Our guys were hitting the boards pretty hard. We’re the second-leading rebounding team in the league and we showed that tonight.”

Canfield (12-2, 8-1) outrebounded Howland in the third, 13-3.

Andres said that Cope turned his ankle a few weeks ago, but the coach is insists that football season weariness still lingers for other players.

“Cope’s hurt and Tyler Scott played tired. Six of our top eight play football. We played tired the second half. My evaluation is, the first half was 19-16 and we played great defense, but missed a lot of easy shots. We just got expended. Mentally, we missed couple of easy shots when it was 20-16 and they went up 30-18 and our kids couldn’t recover. When your leading scorer has two points and is shooting airballs, he’s hurt.

Cope was averaging 14 points.

“They need some time off,” Andres said of the players. “We’re tired ball club right now.”

He explained that Scott, Kyle Spence, Nathan Salter and Cope, all played football and six of Howland’s top eight played football.

“They played like a tired team in the second half. Canfield didn’t do anything special. All they did was play good halfcourt defense and we couldn’t hit any shots. It was an ugly game.”

Jared Kirin’s 11 points led Howland (10-5, 5-4).

bassetti@vindy.com