Spartans advance; Canfield falls short

By Tom Williams

The Cardinals cut a 14-point deficit to three before losing to Canton McKinley.

CANTON — The Boardman High boys basketball team withstood a late comeback attempt by Federal League rival Lake to post a 58-46 victory.

In the second game of Tuesday’s Division I doubleheader at Canton Civic Center, another Mahoning Valley team was the one trying to pull off a stunning rally.

After trimming Canton McKinley’s 14-point lead to three early in the fourth quarter, Canfield could get no closer in falling, 53-45.

Trailing by 10 at halftime, the Cardinals (14-7) climbed back into the game in the third quarter when the Bulldogs scored just one basket and one free throw.

“Holding them to a three-point quarter is pretty awesome,” Canfield coach John Cullen said. “In the second half, we moved a little closer and they missed their shots.”

Junior Mike Podolsky led the Cards with 26 points.

“Podolsky plays like a road warrior,” Cullen said. “They didn’t have an answer for him.”

For Boardman, senior Ryan Pesta scored 20 points and made five rebounds.

“It feels so good, especially because this could have been our last game,” Pesta said after the Spartans defeated the Blue Streaks for the third time. “It’s harder when they know everything about you.”

The Spartans (11-10) led 42-29 heading to the fourth quarter when the Blue Streaks (10-11) made their run, reducing Boardman’s lead to 45-42 with 3:45 to play.

“Our guys hung in there,” Boardman coach Jim Goske said. “We’ve been playing together well lately, probably better than we have all year.

“We knew the pressure by Lake was coming eventually,” Goske said. “We didn’t respond to it real well initially.”

Ahead 49-46 with 2:28 to go, the Spartans made two free throws and Pesta hit a backbreaking 3-pointer for an eight-point lead.

“That felt so good,” Pesta said. “I was missing earlier and so for my team to show the confidence in me to try [was great].”

J.T. Moore scored 16 points and made 12 rebounds for the Spartans.

Lake’s Connor Groot scored 18.

The Spartans advance to play second-seeded Massillon Jackson (16-4) on Friday at 8:30 p.m. at the Canton Civic Center. In a regular-season game against the Polar Bears, Boardman lost at home, 43-37.

“It will be a big challenge for us, there’s no doubt about it,” Goske said. “We can play with anybody in the Federal League so we aren’t going to back down.

“They are a good team, there’s a reason why they are the number-two seed, why they finished second in the Federal League Tournament,” Goske said. “We’ll definitely have to play a lot better than we did tonight.”

Pesta also has confidence the Spartans are ready.

“We lost to them by six,” Pesta said. “We’ve got to play real well but we feel we can take them.”

Cullen said the Cards paid for a slow start.

“In the first half, they had 15 points off our turnovers and that’s the difference,” Cullen said. “You can’t give them lay-ups.

williams@vindy.com