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NTL BOYS' BASKETBALL: WILLIAMS LEADS CANTON PAST TOWANDA (2022-01-26)

BY CHRIS MANNING
Northern Tier Sports Report
TOWANDA — Canton knew that if they were going to have any chance at winning the NTL Division-II title they needed on Tuesday. They’d just lost to Troy, while the Knights were coming off a buzzer beating win at CV - two teams with different momentum.

But after a close first half Canton used a 21-point third quarter to pull away for the 66-37 win over the Knights.


The Warriors got 24 points from Caiden Williams, with nine field goals in the paint, plus a 6-for-8 performance from the line. Four times he finished a lay-up through contact to get the foul, finishing off the And-1 three times.


Cooper Kitchen chipped in with 16 points, too, though most of their damage was done on the defensive end.


“Towanda’s been playing very well,” Canton coach Brock Kitchen said. “I told their coach before the game, I thought, besides Troy, they’ve been playing the best the last week and a half, so I’m happy.”


The Warriors found themselves down 11-9 at the quarter break, but held the Knights to just 15 points over the next two quarters.


“We changed to a zone, and it slowed them down a little bit,” said Kitchen. “But they’re going to be fine. They’re a good, young team - their prosper days are ahead of them real soon.”


Isaiah Niemczyk added eight points for Canton, as Weston Bellows scored seven. Austin Allen had five, Ashton Rockwell netted three, Kyle Kapichok finished with two, and Ben Fitch rounded things out with one point.


“Caiden played big inside, I thought,” said Kitchen. “Isaiah did things that aren’t going to show up on the stat sheet, he didn’t score a lot of points, but he got a lot of loose balls - he just needs to get in the gym and get the shots up.”


Canton used a 6-0 run in the final 13 seconds of the first half to get some momentum, then used that going into the third quarter to take control of the game.


“That 13 seconds we got six points, that was a turning point,” remarked Kitchen. “That’s something you learn from - we were able to get a steal, and then get an out of bounds play, and get a few quick buckets. Then, I really felt halfway through the third quarter, defensively, you could see that they started to slow down a little bit, and we were able to knock down some shots.”


Dante Ottaviani led Towanda with eight points, as Teagan Irish scored seven. Daniel Storrs and Mason Hartmann had six points a piece, Justin Schoonover netted four, while Elias Shrawder and Grady Flynn each had two.


It was a back and forth game to start, but after finding themselves down 7-6 Towanda used back to back buckets from Ottaviani and Flynn to go up 11-6. An old fashion 3-point play from Williams cut it to a 2-point deficit at the break.


The Warriors then went on a 7-0 run to start the second quarter, powered by five points from Kitchen who hit a 3-pointer as an exclamation point on the spurt, giving Canton a 16-11 cushion.


A Hartmann put back ended the blitz, but Canton scored four more straight points to go up 20-13.


Towanda then cut it to a 3-point game as Schoonover and Irish had lay-ups.


That’s when Canton ended the half strong, beginning with Williams going to the free throw line with 13.6 seconds left. He hit both, with Kitchen stealing the in bounds pass and getting a lay-up with 6.6 seconds to play.


Towanda’s next in bounds pass was errant, giving Canton the ball out of bounds on the baseline with around two seconds to play. Kitchen found Williams for another lay-up just before the buzzer, and the Warriors finished off the 6-0 run with a 26-17 lead.


Towanda cut it to 26-19 early in the third off a Hartmann lay-up, but three more points from Canton saw them go up 29-19.


An Ottaviani 3-pointer made it 29-22, followed by the two teams trading lay-ups for a 31-24 score. That’s when Canton took over, going on a 10-0 run, beginning with a Niemczyk lay-up. Williams then had another old fashion 3-point play, followed by Kitchen getting three points the new way with a deep ball. The run ended with a Williams bucket off a Kitchen assist.


A Schoonover lay-up ended that run, but then Canton started a new one, tallying off six straight points behind a Kitchen lay-up, an Allen free throw, and another Williams And-1.


An Ottaviani 3-ball gave Towanda one last glimmer of hope as he cut it to 47-29, Canton scored the final nine points of the quarter - finished off with a Niemczyk dunk - to take an insurmountable 56-29 lead.


Towanda won the JV contest, 46-27. Storrs netted 22 points on six 3-balls to lead the Knights, while Kapichok had nine points for Canton.


The Knights will have some time to digest this one as their next game isn’t until Monday, a non-league home contest with Sullivan County.


Canton will travel to Williamson on Thursday before restarting divisional play next Wednesday.


“First of all, we need to get healthy,” Kitchen said about his team. “Conner Foust has got to get his ankle, we’ve had the stomach bug going through, so we’ve got to get healthy.”


They also need some help. They sit two games back of Wyalusing in the loss column, but the Rams keep winning cross-over games, beating NP-Mansfield on Tuesday after defeating Athens last week - two teams Canton lost to back in December. 


The Rams will host Wellsboro on Thursday - another team Canton lost two - and a loss there would put Canton one game of Wyalusing, giving the Warriors a chance to tie if they can beat the Rams on their home floor. They did once back in Canton, and, if they sweep the season series, that would give them the tie-breaker edge.


“We we start this second half of the small school we can’t have any hiccups,” remarked Kitchen. “And we got to pray for a little help - that’s just the way it is. But, hey, I’ll go in with the guys I got, I think we can battle with anybody already.”


PHOTO CAPTION: Canton's Caiden Williams puts in a lay-up...PHOTOS BY CHRIS MANNING



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