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Mangapora’s 32 points help Canfield rout Struthers
Victory extends Cardinals’ win streak to seven games
By Greg Gulas
Struthers
Mason Mangapora scored 32 points, Sam DiGiacomo added 14 and Julian Vitto had 11 as Canfield defeated Struthers, 76-44, in All-American Conference, intra-division game Friday night at the Struthers Field House.
The win extended the Cardinals’ win streak to seven games while the Wildcats (3-6), who have played just three games since Dec. 12, have now split their last four contests.
“We only play Struthers once a season and the players know each other really well, so this game has become a rivalry game,” Mangapora said. “We want to beat them, they want to beat us and the one thing that you can count on is that it will be a physical game.
“We were super crisp in the first half, but in the third quarter we got away from our game plan. If we learned anything tonight, we learned that we had better keep doing what our coaching staff says.”
With the game knotted at 10, Mangapora scored seven consecutive points to key an 8-0 run by the Cardinals (10-2) for an 18-10 lead.
Canfield then reeled off 13 of the last 15 points in the frame for a 23-12 lead heading to the second period.
The Cardinals stuck with Mangapora’s hot hand as he scored nine of Canfield’s first 11 points for a 34-15 advantage en route to a 47-24 halftime lead.
Mangapora scored 19 points in the first half.
Down 54-24, triples by both Dakota Senvisky and Jaret Jacubec helped Struthers on a 10-0 run to cut the Canfield margin to 54-34.
When A.J. Musolino notched both of his buckets, he helped the Wildcats finish the period on an 18-2 run as Struthers cut the Canfield lead to 56-41.
“In the third quarter we were playing against ourselves and quite frankly, weren’t exactly winning,” Canfield head coach Todd Muckleroy said. “We need to run our offense and be multi-dimensional, but got away from that in the third quarter. We got back to that in the fourth period and the results were much better.”
Muckleroy added that the mid-way point of the season will be an excellent barometer of where his team was, where they currently stand and where they need to be when tournament play begins.
“We know we’re developing an identity and that is hard-nosed defensively, and patient offensively,” Muckleroy said.
Canfield’s 17-0 run to start the fourth quarter dashed any hopes of a comeback by Struthers.
Mangapora (11 points) and Brandon McFall (six points) combined to score all of Canfield’s points during the run.
The only points the Cardinals allowed was a 3-pointer by Isaiah Torrence with 70 seconds to play.
“I’ve said from day one that Canfield is one of the hardest-working teams in the area,” Struthers head coach Jim Franceschelli said. “They’re well-coached and the players buy into their system.
“We’re trying to get to that level. At times we are our own worst enemy, but the positive we take away from tonight is that despite being down 30 points, we didn’t quit then cut into their lead and made it a game.”