Howland’s Barrett beats buzzer, Canfield with layup

January 20, 2018 at 12:00a.m.

Tigers take down

Cardinals in AAC

CANFIELD

Nathan Barrett’s put-back of a Connor Tamarkin missed layup with 1.8 seconds remaining gave Howland to a 55-53 victory over Canfield in an All-American Conference, Red Tier boys basketball game Friday night.

“Coming out of the timeout, coach [Dan Bubon] told us to let the clock run down,” Barrett said. “I knew that Connor would get a good shot so I set a screen, he drove off the screen and I looked for them to double-team him. My job was to wait for the kickout or get the rebound, so I got in good position, was able to get a good look and lay it in. The coaching staff always preaches be in good rebounding position and that was definitely the key.”

The win was the eighth of the season for the Tigers (8-4, 4-2 AAC Red Tier), equaling last season’s total when they went 8-17.

With four league wins now, the Tigers have already doubled their total of a season ago.

Trailing 51-50, Canfield (8-4, 4-1) regained a 53-51 advantage on Zach Tinkey’s fourth 3-pointer with 2:17 left.

Barrett, who was held scoreless in the opening half and had just two points through the first 24 minutes of action, then hit a bucket in the lane to knot the score at 53 with 1:25 left.

The Tigers then worked the clock before Bubon’s timeout.

“We put three shooters on the outside and wanted to set a high screen with the option to drive, shoot or kick it out to a shooter,” Bubon said. “Connor was able to drive the lane off the screen, but it was Nathan who was in great position for the rebound and the put back.”

Tamarkin said he loves using his left when driving to the hoop.

“I use my left hand because it’s the best way for me to get off a good shot while driving to the bucket,” Tamarkin said. “Nathan had my back tonight. It was a great play because he was in the right place at the right time. He came up big for us.

“They beat us at our place early in the season and that was one of our two league losses. This win was big and one we needed in order to keep pace in the conference.”

The Cardinals reeled off 12 of the game’s first 14 points for the early 12-2 lead as Aydin Hanousek scored eight of his 10 points in the opening quarter.

“We shot the ball well early, but that makes a staff nervous because shots won’t fall that easy the entire game,” Cardinals head coach Todd Muckleroy said. “At the end, they started making shots, hit some high-percentage shots and grabbed rebounds. We didn’t do a good job on the boards when it counted.

“Credit Howland because they got the ball inside and did a good job of exposing our interior defense.”

Eight points by Tamarkin in the third period, which featured six ties and seven lead changes, helped Howland knot the game at 46 with a quarter remaining.

“When we were down 10 points at the outset, I was just thinking about getting off good shots. We got to the basket but let Canfield bother us. We just threw it at the hoop,” Bubon said. “Nathan Barrett is a junior, this is his first varsity season and he has played really well of late.

“He struggled in the first half tonight, but really came around after halftime. He has a unique ability to let things go and just keep moving forward.”

McGraw led Canfield with 18 points, Tinkey had 16 and Hanousek 10.

Tamarkin led Howland with 18 points.