O’Shaughnessy powers Poland win
By Gary Housteau
POLAND
Poland sophomore Braeden O’Shaughnessy poured in 18 of his team-high 32 points in the second half to lead the Bulldogs to Friday’s 66-56 come-from-behind victory over arch-rival Canfield.
Canfield led by as many as nine points in the second quarter. Junior Spencer Woolley’s had a 10-point performance for the Cardinals before the intermission.
But Poland closed out the first half with a 13-2 run to take a 26-24 lead into the break.
“We went cold and when we go cold sometimes our team can’t really figure out how to kind of bounce back from it,” Canfield coach Todd Muckleroy. “We sit on our hot shooting, we hope that we can kind of keep it going to keep us in the game and win us games, and right now we’re struggling to really find an identity of what we can do beyond our shooting if we go cold.”
Poland head coach Ken Grisdale thought his team really needed to keep it close in order to have a chance to beat the Cardinals (5-2).
“I thought we gave up some points at the rim early and then we finally got a couple of stops and had a couple of good offensive positions,” Grisdale said. “We knew if we could get it back close, the longer the game was close, the better chance we had.
“They were the team that should have won tonight, in a sense of on paper I think they’re a better basketball team,” Grisdale said. “But my kids are very scrappy and they fought their [behinds] off.”
In the second half, it was pretty much all Poland who never trailed after the intermission.
“Once we got a little lead we were able to play a little clock,” Grisdale said. “And I think they got a little rushed because now there was less time that they had to make shots and that put a little more pressure on them.”
Canfield reduced the deficit to two points at 39-37 right at the start of the fourth quarter but O’Shaughnessy scored 14 of his points in the fourth quarter as the Bulldogs pulled away.
“They have a great player in Braeden O’Shaughnessy and he really showed why he’s one of the better players in the league and in this area,” Muckleroy said. “I think he really had a great game.
“We just couldn’t stop him.”
The sophomore guard had a career-best performance in points.
“It was great,” O’Shaughnessy said. “My teammates found me wherever I was at the whole game.
“It’s definitely one of my best games this year and my whole career,” O’Shaughnessy said. “It felt great.
“It was a great gameplan, it got me open and I was able to take it to the hoop and I just made shots. It’s awesome to go into Christmas like this.”
He also made 10 rebounds.
“This was his best game so far,” Grisdale said. “He kind of put it all together tonight.
Everything about him tonight was different.
“He wanted the ball, and we’ve been trying to get him to the ball a lot because he’s our best player,” Grisdale said. “But he really came through solid for us.
“He may have had 22 earlier in the year but we don’t normally have anybody in the 30s, that doesn’t happen very often,” Grisdale said.
Sophomore Daniel Kramer chipped in with 14 points and five rebounds for the Bulldogs (4-2).
The Cardinals are 5-2.