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Spartans avenge loss to Canfield
Boardman vs Canfield
Gallery
Melewski leads Boardman with 16 points
By Greg Gulas
BOARDMAN
In their first meeting on Dec. 20, Canfield’s ability to dictate the flow of the game led to Boardman’s first loss of the season.
Since then, Boardman has worked on controlling the tempo and in doing so Tuesday, returned the favor with a 51-44 decision and a season split with the Spartans’ All-American Conference Red Tier rivals.
Mike Melewski scored 16 points, Holden Lipke notched 11 markers and the Spartans defense held the Cardinals to 19 second-half points.
The Spartans posted their 12th win, guaranteeing them their first winning season since 2010-11.
“The first time we played, Canfield dictated the pace and turnovers proved to be costly for us,” Melewski said. “This time around, we played at our pace, but the difference was that we made shots when we needed to knock them down.
“Also, we had a better defensive effort tonight and everyone contributed at both ends of the court,” Melewski said. “We defended the ball much better.”
The Cardinals (8-9, 5-4) actually set the pace in the opening period, canning four of their six shots from beyond the arc as they raced to an 18-12 advantage.
Ethan Kalina, Jared Clark, Jake Cummings and Ian McGraw all hit 3-pointers early.
Melewski, who scored eight of his 16 points in the first quarter, scored the last five points for Boardman (12-3, 6-2).
A Zach Tinkey triple at 5:56 of the second quarter gave Canfield a 21-15 lead, but six points by Melewski helped the Spartans finish on an 8-4 run to cut the deficit to 25-23 at intermission.
“Canfield worked the ball around at the outset and looked for the best shot available, so we challenged our defense to apply more pressure,” Spartans coach Pat Birch said. “Mike has always been a scorer, but he’s really put in the time and effort with his shot and you see the confidence that he has because it was on display tonight.”
Birch lauded the energy provided by the Spartans student body.
“Our student section and band have been tremendous all season long and they provided a ton of energy as well,” Birch said.
Trailing 28-25 barely two minutes into the second half, a slam dunk by Travis Koontz, two triples by Lipke and a bucket from beyond the arc by John Ryan keyed a 13-5 run by the Spartans as they forged a 36-35.
“Their zone kept us in check the first time we played, but we’ve grown as a team since then,” Lipke said.
A Ryan bucket with 1:26 remaining gave the Spartans their largest lead of the game at 48-39.
“The first time we maintained our scoring all 32 minutes, but tonight we had some scoring droughts that really hurt,” Canfield coach Todd Muckleroy said. “I was hoping we’d catch a flame and make some of those shots to get back in the game, but Boardman has proven all season long that they can win these close games.”