Bowden, Culver lead Harding past Canfield

January 18, 2017 at 12:08a.m.

Canfield vs Harding

CANFIELD

Lynn Bowden scored 24 points, Derek Culver notched his 1,000th career point and Warren Harding nailed 11 3-pointers to lead the Raiders over Canfield 80-62 in an All-American Conference, Red Tier contest Tuesday at the James W. Watkins Gymnasium.

Culver also had a double-double — 19 points and 10 rebounds — as the Raiders (7-6, 6-1) took over sole possession of first place.

With the loss the Cardinals (7-6, 5-2) fell a game off the pace.

“They key over the last few games is that we are competing harder, both in practice and in games,” Bowden said. “We just came in here tonight and played our game.”

The game featured 20 baskets from beyond the arc, 11 by Harding. The Raiders made nine 3s in the second half, including seven in the third quarter.

“We fell in love with the 3 in the third period and they just kept falling,” Bowden said. “Sometimes we have an off night, but today they were falling, especially in the third quarter.”

A bucket by Canfield’s Jared Clark staked the Cardinals to an early 5-2 advantage while Harding could manage just a Culver bucket for the first 4:45 of the game.

A triple by Tiryn Frank and four points by Bowden then keyed a 9-1 run by the Raiders as they built an 11-6 margin heading to the second.

Bowden (eight points) and Culver (six points) combined for 14 points in the second quarter, off-setting Zach Tinkey’s 11 markers for Canfield as the Raiders opened a 34-24 lead heading to the intermission.

Tinkey finished with 13 points and was one of four Cardinals in double figures on the night.

Other Cardinals scoring in double figures included Brandon McFall (15), Jake Cummings (14) and Clark (13).

The Raiders outscored the Cardinals 29-15 in the third quarter to open a 63-39 advantage.

Of the seven 3-pointers, Bowden, Mike Hughes and Marlin Richardson each nailed two. Chris Hughes had the other.

“We’ve taken the same shots all year and the one thing about this team is that they do not take bad shots. They’re selfish enough to know a good shot,” Harding head coach Andy Vlajkovich said. “On Friday, we were 6 of 23 from 3-point range against Boardman and tonight we made 11. Tonight, we didn’t do anything differently in the second half than we did in the first half. It’s just that the shots just fell after halftime.”

A bucket by Culver with 1:37 remaining marked the Raiders’ final points of the game and the 1,000th of his career.

“I was happy to finally get my 1,000th point, but I am trying to expand my shot as well,” Culver said. “Here, I’m usually the tallest person on the court but when I get to college, I am going to need to have more of a shot selection.”

Both players were inundated by fans with photo requests after the game.

“Derek and Lynn have been focal points socially and I am proud of them because they absorb it in a classy way,” Vlajkovich said. “Some days they irritate me, but I love them to death and once you get to know them, they’re really good kids.”

Canfield head coach Todd Muckleroy felt like his team gave up too many points in the paint.

“They’re a good team and it’s very hard to match-up with their athleticism. We didn’t match-up too well with them tonight,” Muckleroy stated.

“We gave up too many points in the paint, but kudos to them because they played an excellent game. This was also a good game for us because they’re a team that can get us ready for the second half of the season.”

Richardson finished with 14 points and Mike Hughes 10 as the Raiders held a 31-26 rebound margin.

Cummings grabbed a team-high six rebounds for the Cardinals.