Cardinals rally to sweep Panthers

February 8, 2017 at 12:05a.m.

CANFIELD

In two games against East this season, the Canfield High School boys basketball team has committed 52 turnovers.

Even though 24 were committed Tuesday, the Cardinals rallied for a 61-56 victory against their All-American Conference Red Tier rivals for a series sweep.

Zach Tinkey scored 24 points and Jake Cummings added 15 as Canfield moved into sole possession of third-place.

Then win broke a four-game tailspin for the Cardinals (9-10, 6-5) while the Panthers (10-9, 5-6) fell for the second straight time and dropped to 3-7 in 10 road contests.

“We missed a lot of lay-up opportunities and that proved to be costly,” East coach Dennis Simmons said. “The turnovers were good, but we didn’t convert off of those turnovers and steals.

“We just didn’t play up to our potential tonight,” Simmons said.

Tinkey scored five points in the first outing on Jan. 3, a 67-62 win. In the rematch, he connected on four of the Cardinals’ six buckets from beyond the arc, including two in the opening period.

“We wanted to get the best shot available and make every possession count,” Tinkey said. “Turnovers have been a [problem] for us and they applied pressure the entire game, but we handled the ball much better and their pressure as the game moved along.”

“When I hit that first triple it felt like it as going to be a pretty good night for me shooting,” Tinkey said.

Five points each by Cummings and Tinkey in the opening frame staked the Cardinals to the early 15-11 advantage.

Of Canfield’s first seven baskets, five came from beyond the arc. They settled for just one more over the next 21 minutes of action.

After Tinkey hit back-to-back triples for a 21-13 lead, four points by the Panthers’ Ceandre Backus keyed a 9-0 run as East rallied for a 22-21 lead.

A bucket and three free throws by Cummings opened a 26-24 lead by the Cardinals with 1:12 remaining, but a floater in the lane by Shannon Dubose and another basket by Backus helped East regain the lead at the intermission, 28-26.

“The last time we used the second quarter to open a 15 point halftime lead, only to have them battle back in the second half,” Cummings said. “Tonight, it went back and forth the entire game.

“They give us their best shot,” Cummings said. “We need to keep on winning now in order to gather some momentum.”

Six Panthers nailed a bucket in the third quarter as they opened a 40-34 lead, only to have a bucket by Tinkey and three points from Spencer Woolley over the final 3:34 help the Cardinals cut the deficit to 40-39.

“We knew that they gave us a run after halftime last time, so we had to be at our very best in the second half,” Cardinals head coach Todd Muckleroy said. “They were physical, especially on the offensive boards and their defense could very easily have been their offense tonight.

“I was proud of our effort because we kept battling and with the win, it was a breath of fresh air in the locker after breaking that four-game winless streak.”

Tinkey meshed 11 points in the final frame, including the go-ahead “three” at the 3:47 mark to give the Cardinals the lead for good at 50-48.

The effort offset seven points by the Panthers’ Backus, who finished with 15 points.

Canfield forced 14 Panthers miscues while East also had a game-high 12 steals.