CANFIELD HOLDS DOWN THE FORT
By Matt Maher
CANFIELD, OH – A game that struggled to find one point in the first three quarters of the first quarter ended up looking like an average high school basketball game thanks to an explosive offensive outburst from Dom Cruz and solid defense from the Cardinals.
Neither team seemed to have any answers to the other’s defense in quarter one and as a result the game went scoreless for about six minutes until Jaylon Smith was fouled and went to the line where he went 1-for-2 and scored the first point of the game. The Cardinals would respond with a Dom Cruz three but would be outscored 7-6 at the buzzer.
The second saw a much better offensive presence for Canfield putting up 19 points. Cruz would put up a two to begin scoring and would have all 8 points for the Cardinals to begin the game. Ray McCune hit a bucket and went to the line for the and-1 and finished off the 3-point play to help his team gain the edge. The Cowboys didn’t see a whole lot of attempts go through the net, especially on the free throw line where they would go 1-for-8 in the quarter. Offense struggled to get past the Cardinals defense in the first half but the third quarter proved to be more lucrative for Chaney.
Chaney had their highest scoring quarter coming out from halftime putting up 13 points and finding some much needed confidence. Latrell Kimbrough and Cliff Scott both put up four points and JaShaun Holcomb completed an and-1 for three points. While Chaney stepped it up Canfield maintained the course and scored 15 points of their own including four more from Cruz as well as four from Tony Russo including two made free throws.
Dom Cruz continued to Dazzle for Canfield in the fourth putting up two more 2-pointers and hitting a gem of a three to round out his night at 24 points! on the Other side of the court Holcomb made two free throws and hit a great three of his own to finish off his night in double digits with 10.
While Chaney battled hard in the third it would be Canfield defense and the almost automatic shooting from Dom Cruz that would allow The Cardinals to beat Chaney 53-32 and get win number one of the season on their home opening game.
Chaney moves to 1-2 on the season and will be back in action when they travel to Ursuline on December 22nd in a big conference matchup at 7:00PM. Canfield will hit the hardwood again when they host Cardinal Mooney on December 15th at 7:00PM.
