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Carnifax ignites Howland to end skid
HOWLAND
In a pre-game chat, Howland coach Bill Bogan was asked about the play of 6-foot-5 Tommy Carnifax so far.
Bogan’s answer had a so-so, 50-50 connotation.
How about after a 17-point, 11-rebound breakout game by the sophomore that helped Howland defeat Niles, 63-50, in an All-American Conference American Division game Friday night.
“A big thing for Tom was gaining some confidence in himself,” Bogan said of his 15-year-old behemoth. “We’re hoping that he found himself and realizes some of the things he can do for us on the basketball floor.”
Of Carnifax’s double-double, Niles coach Ron Price said, “He’s strong, he’s got athletic ability and he created a lot of problems inside, plus, they shot well.
“So those two factors put them in the 60s [points]. That’s why we need to shoot the ball better. Unfortunately, we didn’t do that tonight.”
The Tigers’ victory snapped a downward spiral that went back to Jan.10 when Howland (4-12, 3-7) beat Hubbard, 58-43.
What appeared to be a slow burn for Carnifax throughout the game was actually the release of pent-up energy.
“I’m tired of losing, so I thought I’d use my energy,” Carnifax said. “Because I felt like I wasn’t playing to my potential over the past year, I let it out tonight and it worked, I guess.”
Bogan like the Tigers’ play, offensively.
“I thought we attacked the rim really hard by going inside-out, although when we did take an outside shot, it was inside-out,“ Bogan said of an offensive onslaught of 22-5 that spanned the latter half of the second quarter through the early third quarter.
“In talking to the kids at halftime, they understood what we coaches wanted them to do. They came out in the second half and really got after it [attacking the rim].”
Junior Julian Lanier was Howland’s second-best scorer with 15 points while Reece Bogan and senior Evan Steele added 10 points apiece.
Howland made 25 of 49 goals to Niles’ 14 of 53. The Tigers also out-rebounded the visiting Red Dragons, 39-19.
Entering Friday’s game, Reece Bogan — the coach’s son — was averaging 15.7 points, 7.2 rebounds, 4 assists and 2.6 steals. He had 10 rebounds against Niles, a team to whom Howland lost by five points on Dec. 17.
In recognizing the important all-around role of freshman sub Victor Williams during Howland’s spurt, Bill Bogan surmised that the Tigers’ average age is about 16.
Bogan said that point guard Connor Antinone, a sophomore, did a good job handling and distributing the ball.
“A lot of times it’s that first pass that makes the second pass so good,” Bogan said. “I think Connor did a great job making a great first pass, so the second pass was easy [for the good shot].”
The Tigers were happy to get another win.
“It was about three weeks ago, but seems like a year,” said Bogan of the Hubbard game. “We’ve only got eight home games, so it seems like we haven’t been at home in forever.”
The Tigers are off again until Friday when they play at Struthers. Howland’s last game was against Canfield on Wednesday.
Marcus Hill’s 17 points led Niles (5-9, 3-5).
The game was tied at 21-21 before Howland went on its spree, while the Red Dragons’ drought set in.
In addition to Howland’s rebounding edge, the Tigers had seven 3-pointers, including three by Steele and two by Lanier. Hill had four 3-point goals.
Including a game against Fitch tonight, Niles has eight remaining.