Canfield, Boardman bounced in first night in D1

Both teams had the lead late in their game but couldn’t hold on.

By JOE SCALZO

Vindicator sports staff

CANTON — It only took one day for March to become maddening.

Seventy-two hours after a heartbreaking loss to its arch-rival, the Canfield High boys basketball team saw a terrific season end too early, falling to Uniontown Lake 61-58 in a Division I sectional opener at the Canton Civic Center.

Boardman fell to Massillon in the opener 43-39.

“It looked to me like we ran out of gas,” said Cardinals coach John Cullen, whose team fell to Poland at the buzzer on Friday. “Not to take anything away from Lake, but it was a tough turnaround.

“I think by the end, our concentration level and our energy level was a little low.”

Canfield (17-4) held the lead for much of the game and led by six, 50-44 with a little more than five minutes left.

But the Blue Streaks kept chipping away and used two huge 3-pointers from juniors Logan Wartman and Danny Reed to take a 55-54 lead with 2:30 remaining.

After Lake took a 59-56 lead with 30 seconds left, Canfield senior Mike Podolsky was fouled on a 3-point attempt several feet behind the line. He made the first, then Lake coach Tom McBride called timeout and Podolsky misfired on the second before making the third, cutting the deficit to 59-58 with 16 seconds left.

“It was one of those times when freezing the shooter worked,” said McBride, whose team handed Canfield two of its losses this season.

“We knew they were playing something like five games in eight days and we felt like if we could just get a lead and showed a little patience, we could win.”

On the ensuing inbounds play, Wartman tossed a full-court pass to senior Derek Sitzlar, who made a wide-open layup for the 61-58 advantage.

Lake forced a turnover on the other end, then missed the front end of a one-and-one with one second left but Canfield’s Dan Campolito only had time to toss up a half-court prayer that had no chance.

“This team deserved a better finish [to the season] than that,” said Cullen. “They all put a lot into it and I don’t want them to be remembered for losing their last two games.

“This is the most sorry I’ve felt for a team at the end of the season.”

The entertaining game would have been a terrific Division II battle. Canfield is just six boys over the Division I limit and Lake is about 25.

“We gave ourselves a chance to win,” said Cullen. “That’s all you can ask for.”

Senior guard Gene Wollet had 16 points, eight rebounds, three assists and three steals for Canfield, repeatedly driving through Lake’s man-to-man defense for layups. Podolsky added 13 points and six rebounds and Campolito had 12 points.

Sitzlar scored 16 points for Lake (13-8), which will play fourth-seeded Canton Timken on Friday.

Boardman was in position to win the night’s first game, rallying from a 37-30 deficit with less than three minutes left in the fourth quarter to take a 39-38 lead with 38 seconds left.

But Massillon’s Devin Smith followed up a Tiger miss for a putback basket with 24 seconds left to make it 40-39, then Boardman guard Dave DiBernardi missed a 3-pointer in the corner.

Massillon’s Trennie Richardson split his free throws to make it 41-39 and Spartans senior J.T. Moore grabbed the rebound, drove upcourt, then threw a long pass that was picked off by Massillon’s Jamil Dudley. He then fouled Dudley — his fifth foul — and crouched down along the sideline, pulled off his headband and slowly walked to the bench with his head down.

“He’s a competitor, like all of our seniors are, and when you’re a competitor, it’s tough to end your season with a loss,” Boardman coach Jim Goske said of Moore. “I don’t think anybody wants to end their season the way we did.”

Dudley made both free throws to seal it for the Tigers (7-14), who will play top-seeded Massillon Jackson on Friday.

Moore, an Ohio State football recruit, finished with 13 points for the Spartans (7-14), who shot 4 of 23 from the field in the first half and scored just 12 points. Trailing 24-12 at halftime, the Spartans opened the third quarter with a 10-0 run.

“We played hard and competed and caused them some problems for 16 minutes,” said Goske. “Anytime in the season, especially tournament time, you’ve got to do things for 32 minutes if you want to keep playing.

“That’s been sort of the tale of our season.”

scalzo@vindy.com