NTL BOYS' BASKETBALL: CANTON HOLDS OFF LATE WYALUSING CHARGE FOR KEY NTL WIN (2023-01-29)

BY CHRIS MANNING
Northern Tier Sports Report
WYALUSING — The best way to describe Canton’s win over Wyalusing in NTL boys’ basketball action on Saturday was scrappy. The Warriors went after every loose ball, had a nose for steals, and battled for each rebound, and it added up to a 52-45 win over the Rams.

The Warriors forced Wyalusing’s Blake Morningstar out of the middle with their double, triple, and even quadruple teams, allowing them to build up a 24-7 lead midway through the second quarter.

The Rams rallied in the second half cutting it to a 2-point game at one point, but Canton buckled down defensively in the final minute, and made enough free throws to pull out the win.

“We put in a game plan, and our game plan was to try and make someone else beat us,” said Canton coach Brock Kitchen. And for three quarter I thought we did a great job on Blake. The kids were collapsing on the double teams. Now he hit a few there late to bring them back into it and that’s what a good player’s going to do, but Wes Bellows never lost control of the game. When the ball was in his hands I felt confident.”

Bellows had himself an afternoon shooting the ball, going 9-for-12 from the floor (6-for-7 on two point field goals, 3-for-5 outside the arc), plus a 3-for-3 performance from the free throw line for 24 points. He added six boards, and three assists, not to mention a few floor burns as well.

“If they see Wes dive on the ball going through Morningstar’s legs, the rest of them are going to follow after,” Kitchen said. “That’s what a good leader does.”

Austin Allen added 10 points with seven boards, while Hunter Brackman netted seven points, including a crucial 4-for-5 performance from the free throw line in the final minute of the game.

“I just made a comment to one of my assistant coaches in there, he does things that people don’t notice,” said Kitchen. “There were two times when we were on defense, he was on the weak side, and they tried to make a pass through, and he got just fingers on the balls. He got fingers on the balls, and someone else got the loose ball, but those were two big momentum swings. And then, the first (free throw) he was nervous, but then the second time he sucked it up and did a great job.”

Kyle Kapichok continued his strong play, with six points and nine boards, doing a good job of cleaning the defensive glass.

“Kyle Kapichok, the last three games, as stepped up,” remarked Kitchen. “Even the game before Northeast Bradford, and then going up against (Blake) today, I thought he did a great job.”

Ben Fitch had three points, but chipped in with seven boards, and seven steals, while Wesley Castle came off the bench for two points.

Morningstar finished with 25 points, 13 of them coming in the fourth during their rally. Trehnon Hugo added nine, seven big ones in the third as they tried to keep pace with Canton.

Nick Vanderpool notched five, with Parker Petlock and Thomas Oliver both scoring three.

It was a slow start in the first quarter for both teams, with Canton taking a 9-5 lead after the first eight minutes. All of Canton’s points came on 3-balls - two from Bellows, one from Allen - while Wyalusing got a 3-pointer from Oliver, with Morningstar getting the first 2-point bucket with 18 seconds left in the quarter.

Morningstar struggled to operate in the paint - either up high or on the block - and Canton’s size and length made their double and triple teams that much more effective.

Canton’s offense then heated up in the second quarter as Kapichok hit a jump hook, followed by Bellows scoring five straight to put them up 16-5 with 5:48 on the clock.

That’s when Wyalusing started putting Morningstar outside the 3-point line, specifically in the corner, to try and get him some space to operate. He worked as he had a driving lay-up to cut it to 16-7, but Kitchen was fine with that.

“We changed up how we we’re going to do our double teams, so that’s all we worked on yesterday,” said Kitchen. “They brought him out on the perimeter instead, so I give credit to our boys, they did the game plan that we asked of them.”

The Warriors followed that bucket with an 8-0 run, six of them by Bellows, which he kicked off with a baseline fadeaway jumper. That push gave them their biggest lead of the game, 24-7, with 3:43 on the clock.

Petlock ended Wyalusing’s drought with a 3-ball off a Morningstar pass. The Rams tried to press, but Bellows found Kapichok on the other end of the court for a lay-up.

Morningstar came back with an old fashion 3-point play off a jump hook to cut it to 26-13. Bellows, though, answered with a 3-ball to push their lead back to 16 points with three minutes to play.

The two teams would trade buckets in the final minute for the 31-15 halftime score.

The Rams would slowly claw their way back into the game during the third quarter, beginning with a Hugo 3-ball. 

Bellows and Fitch followed with buckets, but back to back jumpers out of Hugo saw Wyalusing cut it to 35-22 with three minutes left in the third.

Defenses took over into the waning seconds of the frame as Fitch found Brackman for a 3-pointer to push Canton’s lead back to 26 points. However, Morningstar answered with a 3-pointer to make it 38-25 going into the fourth.

Two early 3-balls from the Rams early on cut it to 40-31 just over a minute into the final frame.

Allen would find Kapichok for a lay-up with six minutes to go, but back to back buckets from Vanderpool and Morningstar saw the Rams cut the deficit to 42-35 with five minutes to play.

An Allen free throw would make it 43-35 with 3:35 left on the clock, but Morningstar answered with a 3-ball to cut the deficit to five points.

Fitch would get to the line on a drive, making 1-of-2, with three minutes left, but Morningstar stayed aggressive, attacking the basket for a lay-up to make it 44-40.

Bellows answered on Canton’s next possession with a driving lay-up to extend the lead to six points again, followed by the teams trading jump balls.

Hugo would back a jumper at the 1:45 mark to make it 46-42. After that Wyalusing sent Brackman to the line for a 1-and-1, where he missed the first.

At the other end Morningstar would get fouled and make both, cutting it to 46-44 with 1:03 left to play.

The Rams would foul Brackman again, but this time he made both to make it a 2-possession game with 51 seconds on the clock.

After a Wyalusing miss Kapichok hauled in the rebound and was fouled. Going to the line for two he missed both, keeping the door open for the Rams.

However, Canton’s defense held as they forced another miss with 21 seconds on the clock. Allen rebounded the ball, got it to Brackman, who was quickly fouled. He both shots again, extending the lead to 50-44 with 19.8 seconds left.

Morningstar, though, continued to attack, and was fouled on drive, going to the line with 11.1 seconds to play. He made the first, but missed the second, with Kapichok coming down with the rebound.

He was fouled, but missed both, with Wyalusing one more shot. However, for the third time in four possessions they came away empty handed. Allen got the board, and made both free throws to secure the win.

The Warriors were playing against the clock as much as the Rams with their legs getting heavier by the minute. They missed three lay-ups early in the fourth, which allowed Wyalusing to get back into it.

“Being short handed, with not having Talin (Williams), we only played six guys, and I could tell that they were dragging,” said Kitchen. “They were dragging, but when you’re winning it gives you a little bit extra energy.”

For Wyalusing (3-14) its another winnable game they see slip away from them. They move to Large School play next week, beginning at Athens on Tuesday.

Canton (8-8), it’s their second big win in a row, evening up their NTL record with Sayre and NP-Liberty at 5-6 on top of the Division-II standings. NEB is right behind them at 4-5, making this a 4-team race for the league title in the last two weeks of the season.

First things first, though, as the Warriors travel to NP-Liberty on Tuesday.

“Liberty’s had our number,” said Kitchen. “When we played them at home (Derek) Litzelman had a great game. (Daniel) Sherant has been playing very well for them inside, so I love the match-up. If Bellows can match-up with Litzelman, and Kapichok can keep like he has against Sherant, I’ll take my odds going over there.”

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PHOTO CAPTION: Canton’s Weston Bellows goes up for a shot…PHOTOS BY CHRIS MANNING