Cardinals beat Ursuline 53-48 in Division II sectional final

By DAN HINER

dhiner@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

The Canfield boys basketball team lost its final three games of the regular season. Cardinals coach Todd Muckleroy believed their losses would prepare his players for the postseason.

The late-season test might have paid off. The Cardinals beat Ursuline 53-48 on Friday night in a Division II sectional final.

“I think we have a great staff that continues to impress upon these guys that a new season’s coming up and we got a clean slate, and just learn from those games that we lost and just try to do things better when we got into tournament time because everybody’s 0-0,” Muckleroy said.

Conor Crogan scored nine points to start the fourth quarter, helping the Cardinals pull away with a 49-44 lead.

Crogan finished with a game-high 23 points and Aydin Hanousek scored 14 points with grabbed 11 rebounds for Canfield (13-11).

“They didn’t even worry about us,” Crogan said. “They were going to Poland, but we took that personal and obviously they should have worried about us a little more.”

Ursuline (13-11) led 25-24 at halftime and never trailed by more than six points in the second half.

But the Irish shot 10 of 22 from the free-throw line and committed seven turnovers in the final 16 minutes.

“Here’s the difference in the ballgame: you go 10 for 22 from the free-throw line, you’re not gonna win very many ballgames,” Ursuline head coach Keith Gunther said. “The other thing is, we got them to turn the ball over, we converted some, we got to the free throw line — we don’t make free throws, especially in crunch time — it’s gonna be tough to win.”

RJ Clark led the Irish with 15 points and Daysean Harris scored 10. Forward Devan Keevey was held to one point and dealt with foul trouble in the first half.

The game was tied at 20 at the end of the first quarter, but the offense didn’t carry into the rest of the game.

With the Cardinals leading 39-38, Ursuline had a couple of chances to take the lead in the opening minutes of the fourth, but couldn’t convert.

The Irish recorded steals on back-to-back possessions with Vince Armeni running down the court. But both outlet passes flew out of bounds.

“I think it had a negative effect because you come up with two big steals and you just throw it away,” Gunther said. “What we were trying to say was if you get a steal, just relax and try to get a good possession. Instead we’re getting steals and trying to hurry up and get a layup out of it.”

Canfield will play Poland in its district semifinal, a rematch of the Battle of 224. The two teams met early in the season during the United Way Classic. The Cardinals won 49-45.

“You know these guys aren’t going to treat it like any other game, but I think we treat it as important as any other game,” Muckleroy said. “We’re starting to level up our play a little bit no matter who we’re gonna play.”