43
Canfield edges Howland in seesaw contest
Canfield vs Howland
Gallery
By ERIC FORTUNE
HOWLAND
Canfield basketball coach Todd Muckleroy expected a struggle against Howland.
He wasn’t wrong. Canfield won Friday’s All-American Conference Red Tier matchup, 55-48, a seesaw affair.
“These kids are tough,” Muckleroy said of the Tigers. “You’re going to get their best. We knew that coming in.”
The Tigers (0-2, 0-1) limited the Canfield bench to zero points and 5-of-22 shooting.
Zach Tinkey was instrumental in the Cardinals (2-1, 1-0) putting away the Tigers in the final 1:13, making 6-of-6 shots from the charity stripe.
Tinkey finished with a game-high 24 points and eight rebounds. He made three 3-pointers.
“Tinkey is a really good shooter and probably about three of the 3s that he hit were right in someone’s face,” Howland coach Dan Bubon said. “There is nothing you can do about that.
“You play good defense and you make the kid hit a tough shot and he makes it,” Bubon said. “On the flipside, we’re not really making tough shots.”
Howland’s woes on the offensive end were evident throughout the first half, with 8-of-20 shooting. But the Tigers caused enough turnovers to keep it a tied game after one and a two-point game at the half.
“They were getting up on the lines a little bit,” Muckleroy said. “We shot the ball okay, but we were turning the ball over too much.
“I think we might have had 11 turnovers in that first half. They made us pay for it,” Muckleroy said. “A lot of their buckets came on our turnovers and they took full advantage of it.”
Overall, there were seven lead changes throughout the game and five instances where it was tied up. The largest lead Canfield held was five points at numerous times in the first half until Tinkey sealed the victory in the final 10 seconds.
“Our effort was outstanding,” Bubon said. “They are such a hard team to guard because they run so many different sets.
“Our defense was tremendous,” Bubon said. “Our effort was tremendous. I just think on offense right now, we don’t relax and play.
“When we miss a shot, we’re still thinking about it three possessions later. We do have kids that can put it in the hoop. We’re just a little off with our timing and our confidence. It’ll come.”
The Tigers got their largest lead in the third quarter after a Nathan Leventis 3-pointer made it 34-31.
The Cardinals closed the quarter with a 6-2 run.
Leventis finished with 16 points to lead the Tigers.
Howland took its last lead after a pair of free throws from Frank Rappach made it 38-37 with 7:02 left.
The Tigers shot just 4-of-13 in the final quarter, but saw the Cardinals overcome their own shooting woes (3-of-11) down the stretch and take advantage of being in the bonus getting to the foul line 14 times in crunch time.
“We’re not far off, we’re three-to-four possessions from being 2-0,” Bubon said. “It is what it is.”