Poland tops Canfield in tournament tuneup
By Ryan Buck
POLAND
The Poland boys basketball team was a five-minute case study in extremes Friday night. The Bulldogs’ first half, during which they led rival Canfield by as many as 13 points, could not have ended any worse.
Their second half, however, could not have commenced any better.
The Bulldogs watched the Cardinals methodically erase their double-digit advantage before taking their first and only lead of the game on the final shot of the half.
But Poland raced out of the locker room, generating a 11-0 run to take a 42-32 lead en route to a convincing 64-49 victory over their archrivals.
Poland junior guard Jared Burkert knocked down five 3-pointers in a 16-point performance while forwards Dan Black, Jacob Burns and Kyle Dixon combined for 35 points in a balanced offensive effort that has become the Bulldogs’ calling card in another season that seems destined for a postseason run.
“My teammates screened for me and they found me when I was open,” Burkert said. “Our presence down low forced them to focus on that and it just opens up our shooters even more.”
A raucous atmosphere added to the drama of one of the area’s biggest rivalries, which has been firmly in Poland’s favor in recent years.
“Awesome,” said Poland coach Ken Grisdale, a Canfield graduate and the Bulldogs’ coach for 22 seasons. “Finally. These kids and the Canfield kids, they deserve crowds like that, as much time and effort as they put in and for some reason the crowds have been really thin. But any time Canfield and Poland get together, the student body does get excited about that. That was a tournament atmosphere.”
Poland, thanks in large part to facilitating point guard Nick Gajdos, raced out to a commanding lead at the game’s outset, with seven of its nine baskets the result of assists for a 21-13 lead.
The Cardinals (11-6) owned the tempo and the emotion in the second quarter. A 10-0 run started by a Mason Mangapora basket at the 3:00 mark led to consecutive 3-pointers from Jake Cummings after Poland turnovers. Mike Yourstowsky, who led all scorers with 22, drove to the basket with 10 seconds left to give the Cardinals a 32-31 lead at the half.
“I give a lot of credit to my guys for coming back in that first half and taking the momentum into the locker room,” said Canfield coach Todd Muckleroy, “but that first part of the third quarter was kind of a killer for us as far as the little run they went on and we just couldn’t recover from that.”
Fifteen seconds in, Burkert found Burns inside for an easy basket. Dixon capitalized on a steal on the defensive end for a 3-pointer before Burkert drilled another jumper after another steal for a 38-32 lead before one minute had elapsed.
“How well-balanced they are,” Muckleroy said. “With bigs and good shooters and good guards.”
One possession later, Black fed Burns with a pass inside and Gajdos, who had seven assists, then drove the lane. Black and Burns sealed off space for Gajdos to roam free.
“The kids executed and they got stops,” Grisdale said. “And when you get stops, you get some breakouts, but we were also able to put it inside. A big part of our game plan was to go inside to Danny or Jake.
“That second quarter we weren’t comfortable offensively and defensively we were making mistakes. We were letting them penetrate, but they came out defensively and did what they needed to do and offensively we executed.”
The Cardinals again battled back, cutting the deficit to two on a Yourstowksy basket 20 seconds into the fourth. And again Poland responded, this time with a 7-0 run while limiting Canfield to one more fourth quarter field goal. Matt Baker’s only basket of the game was an emphatic one, a fast-break dunk jump-started by a Black block and outlet pass to Burkert with 6:35 left.
“It means a lot,” Burkert said. “There’s a big turnout every time we play them and to be able to get the win, it boosts all our confidence and we feel really good right now.”