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Canfield defeats Boardman
Photo
Boardman’s Dayne Hammond (1) goes for a slam during Tuesday’s game at Canfield.
By Greg Gulas
CANFIELD
Canfield basketball player Cole Pryjma had a strange feeling after Monday’s practice that he might get an opportunity to make his varsity debut Tuesday against Boardman.
After playing three quarters in the junior varsity game, a 54-40 victory over the Spartans, the last thing on the sophomore’s mind was playing difference-maker in his first varsity contest.
Pryjma came off the bench to score 11 points in two quarters of action while Matt Yourstowsky scored a game-high 18 points and Will Yobi added 11 to lead the Cardinals over the Spartans, 61-50.
“I went into the game nervous, but knew deep down that if I settled down then I could get the job done,” Pryjma said. “Yesterday, Coach [Todd] Muckleroy had me working with the varsity and gave me a hint that I might see some action.
“How much, I didn’t know but that was good enough for me,” Pryjma said. “We’ve never beaten their junior varsity team so to be able to play a part in two wins tonight was very special.”
It was all Cardinals in the second stanza as Marco DeLorenzo scored all seven of his points and Pryjma added four of his tallies which enabled Canfield to build a 24-15 lead at the intermission.
A swarming Canfield defense held the Spartans to just two, second-quarter points – a bucket by Dayne Hammond — outscoring Boardman by a 15-2 count that enabled them to forge that nine-point halftime advantage.
It marked the least points allowed by Canfield (3-4) in the first half this season and the least points scored as well by Boardman (3-4) in the opening 16 minutes of action.
“This is a really big win for us,” Muckleroy said. “We’ve had some adversity in the early going so hopefully this will give us some much needed momentum as we ready ourselves now for league foe, Howland this Friday night.
“Matt [Yourstowsky] wants the ball in his hands with the game on the line and tonight in the fourth quarter, he came up big for us,” Muckleroy said.
Eight of Yourstowsky’s points in the final period came from the free throw line where they canned 16 of 20 attempts collectively from the charity stripe.
“As a senior, I want the ball in my hands with the game on the line. I want to be the one to lead and when you are feeling it, especially at the free throw line then it is great to have the ball in your hands,” Yourstowsky stated.
After winning their last two games, games in which they placed three players in double figures in both contests, Spartans coach Dan McKeown was disappointed in his team’s overall execution.
“We talk about taking care of the ball and that we didn’t do tonight. We left a lot of points in the paint, unable to finish the play and convert and that hurt us.
“We said the game would come down to free throws and while they converted their opportunities late in the game, that’s another area where we came up short and an area that we will address in practice,” McKeown said.
The game featured 50 fouls whistled on both teams; 27 on the Spartans as Canfield canned 20 of its 28 charity tosses, compared to just 12 of 22 by the Spartans.