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Canfield escapes Howland with overtime win
By Mike McLain
HOWLAND
The Canfield High School boys basketball team tried to be in a giving spirit, but Howland would have none of it.
After opening a six-point lead in overtime, the Cardinals proceeded to miss seven straight free throws and eight of the next 10, which normally would result in the elimination of most leads.
The Tigers, who have been no stranger to turnover issues in the early stages of the season, failed to take advantage of the missed foul shots by turning possession over six times in the four-minute extra session.
The Cardinals breathed a sigh of relief before heading home with a 55-52 All-American Conference Red Tier win Friday.
“We’re extremely fortunate to get out of here with a win,” Cardinals coach Todd Muckleroy said. “We didn’t take advantage of opportunities when we had to.
“I’m just happy we have a lot of experience on this team to gut out that win because without that experience I don’t know if we would have won that game.”
Howland coach Dan Bubon watched 27 turnovers doom the cause in a recent one-point loss to LaBrae, which made the mistakes Friday night all the more frustrating.
“We’d be 3-0 right now without turnovers,” Bubon said. “Canfield is so hard to guard. You really have to work on every possession to guard them, and we did, but offensively right now once you take the ball out of Connor Tamarkin’s hands, we just don’t have enough guys that are making plays.”
Ethan Kalina opened overtime with a 3-pointer for the Cardinals (3-0, 1-0), and a fielder by Spencer Woolley extended the lead to 50-45.
Tamarkin, who led all scorers with 23 points, connected from the field, but a fielder by Kalina gave Canfield a 53-47 lead.
Moments later Woolley made the first of two free throws. He missed the next foul shot, which began a run of seven misses from the line before Zach Tinkey made one to end a five-point run by Howland (1-2, 1-1) and give Canfield a 54-52 lead.
With time running out Howland’s Samari Dean took a pass in the forecourt and drove the lane for a spinning layup attempt. Kalina grabbed the rebound and was fouled immediately. He made one of two free throws to end the scoring.
“In an ideal situation you’d like to see that six-point [overtime] lead go to 10,” Muckleroy said. “I think hitting those free throws we would have probably extended that lead. In a place like Howland, we always know this is a tough place to play. Our guys were gritty.”
The Cardinals had a chance to win at the end of regulation, but a 3-point shot by Ian McGraw missed the mark with the score tied at 45.
Kalina finished with 14 points and Ben Shapiro had 11 for the Cardinals.
Jonah Weisman scored 10 points for the Tigers.