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Midgley helps Canfield pull away
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Liberty’s Cameron Clark watches as a pass by Canfield’s Mike Yourstowsky get by him during the first half of their game Tuesday at Liberty High School. The Cardinals got by the Leopards, 60-48.
LIBERTY
An intentional foul with 2:10 remaining in the All-American Conference non-divisional game at Pete Prokop Court resulted in a 5-point play that stretched Canfield’s lead considerably en route to a 60-48 victory over Liberty on Wednesday night.
Andrew Midgley had 18 points, Cole Pryjma 17 and Jarret Vrabel had 14 points and 12 of Canfield’s 34 rebounds in the game that was close throughout.
Asim Pleas had a game-high 23 points for Liberty, while Cameron Clark added 11 for the Leopards, who pulled within 47-44 on Dan Markulin’s 3-point play with about 5:30 remaining.
After Pryjma made two of his signature baseline drives to the basket and Midgley followed with two free throws, Pleas sank a pair of free throws to close the gap to 53-46.
Markulin got a defensive rebound, but Liberty (13-9) missed its goal attempt. That’s when Pryjma got the missed shot and flung a long pass downcourt to Midgley.
As Midgley scored on the layup, he was fouled by Clark and the Canfield player fell to the floor.
In Midgley’s place, Vrabel made the one follow-up free throw, plus two intentional foul attempts for a 58-46 bulge.
Of the undercutting, Midgley expressed himself diplomatically.
“It’s just in the pace of the game,” the 6-foot-7 senior said, shrugging it off. “The kid, I guess, wasn’t thinking and decided to go for the ball and tried to foul me and it happened to be at my legs. I’ve got no problem with that.”
Midgley said that Canfield struggled with Liberty’s athleticism.
“Hand it to them because they’re just great athletes who make great shots,” he said. “But we came out on top in the end with foul shooting and great defense.”
Pryjma, of Czechoslovakian descent, explained his reason for the successful baseline moves to the basket at crunch time.
“He [freshman Lynn Bowden] was getting up really tight on me and I know he really didn’t want me to shoot it, so I decided to go by him and, hopefully, get an open shot or get someone else open,” Pryjma said.
Canfield coach Todd Muckleroy said that his Cards got some breaks and sank some free throws at the right time.
“When you have a veteran team, at some point in time, you hope they’ll do the right things and, at the right spots we did the right things,” he said.
Size disadvantage was a partial factor, according to Liberty coach Dan Bubon.
“We knew they were bigger than us, but we didn’t do a good job getting a body on them,” he said. “Not boxing out was the killer. We didn’t get a lot of second shots and, when we did, it seemed that we rushed them because they were so big. On the other hand, there were times when they’d get 3-4-5 chances. That kills you, psychologically.”
Liberty still had a chance when it closed within 47-44, but the intentional foul was the final blow.
“We had two really good looks at the baskets and we missed and then there was the intentional foul and the 5-point play. That took all the air out of us and really stretched their lead. For about 29-to-30 minutes, we played them toe-to-toe. I’m just upset the way we rebounded. Other than that, we did a lot of good stuff.”