NTL BOYS' BASKETBALL: CANTON BUILDS BIG LEAD, HOLDS ON LATE TO DOWN NEB 52-47 (2021-01-15)

BY CHRIS MANNING
Northern Tier Sports Report
ROME — The calendar might read 2021, but there was definitely some 2020 craziness going on during the Canton-Northeast Bradford boys’ basketball game Friday.

The Warriors came out red hot, scoring 29 first quarter points, led by Cooper Kitchen’s four 3-pointers. Down by 21 points after the first quarter, though, NEB came all the way back, and even took the lead late in the fourth on a Sam Abell lay-up.

That’s when Canton’s Isaiah Niemczyk took over, scoring back to back buckets for the Warriors, as they escaped with a 52-47 victory in NTL Division-II boys’ basketball action Friday. The win pushes Canton to 3-0 after the first week of the season.

“It’s a good feeling, especially to come in here and win again after winning here last year,” Kitchen said about the victory. “We have a big week coming up next week, so it’s good to get a little momentum going into next week.”

It was another close loss for the Panthers, who drop to 0-2 and have to travel to Athens today, but NEB coach Paul Burgert felt he got a quality effort from his young team.

“Well, in the first quarter Cooper Kitchen and Tyler Jannone were Steph Curry and Klay Thompson,” described the coach. “I think if he wanted to, Kitchen could have dropped kicked the ball in from 35 feet in that first quarter. They were unbelievable. But I’ve never been prouder as a coach than I am tonight.”

It’s rare for high school teams, even good ones, to rally from 20 point deficits, let alone come back and take a lead.

“Normally, when teams get dumped on like that in the first quarter they kind of roll over,” said Burgert. “But we fought like heck, chipping away possession by possession and had a chance to win. We’ve got a great group of kids who are willing to fight to the end.”

NEB would out score the Warriors 39-23 over the last three quarters of the game.

Kitchen led Canton with 20 points, 18 of them in the first half, including five 3-pointers. Tyler Jannone and Caiden Williams had 10 points each. 

All of Jannone’s points came in that crazy first quarter for the Warriors while eight of Williams’ were in the second half as Canton got the ball inside more.

Niemczyk was held in check most of the game by NEB’s size of Nick Beers and Dan Seeley. He only finished eight points, but four of those came down the stretch in the fourth quarter.

“I wasn’t really doing good the whole game,” said Niemczyk. “It felt good to get a couple good shots, some clutch shots at the end.”

He also had a key block in the final minute and a big assist to clinch the win.

Weston Bellows and Connor Foust rounded out the scoring with two points each for Canton.

For NEB Lucas Crown looked more like himself on Friday. After struggling against Sayre he showed up in a big way, netting 20 points, including four 3-pointers, to go with four steals. He hounded the Sayre guards in the open court and got into the paint more.

Beers had a double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds, to go with four assists, three blocks and two steals.

Ethan Finch finished with six points and five boards as Dan Seeley had four points and eight rebounds.

Julian Jampo and Sam Abell had three points apiece with Abell handing out a team high six assists while Jampo nabbed three boards.

NEB was strong on the offensive boards, grabbing 15 on the night, largely behind the effort of Beers and Seeley.

That first quarter, though, was one for the record books for Canton.

In the first two possessions Kitchen hit back to back threes off assists from Niemczyk - neither shot hit the rim as it went through - as they took a 6-0 lead in the first minute.

A Williams lay-up followed by a Jannone jumper pushed the lead to 10-0 three minutes into the game. After Kitchen went 1-for-2 at the line NEB got on the scoreboard with a Beers put back.

As the middle of the quarter played out Canton stayed hot with Jannone and Kitchen hitting back to back shots to take a 15-2 lead. Crown came back with a lay-up but Kitchen answered with his third 3-pointer of the quarter for the 18-4 advantage.

Beers was fouled on a put back attempt and cut it to 18-6 off the free throws. That’s when Jannone hit his first of two 3-pointers in the quarter for a 15-point advantage with just under three minutes to play in the opening stanza.

Seeley found Crown for a lay-up at the other end but Canton kept coming as Williams hit Jannone for a 3-pointer. Niemczyk followed with a driving lay-up and then, at the end of the quarter, Kitchen put the exclamation point on the first eight minutes with his fourth 3-pointer, giving Canton a 29-8 lead.

The Panthers came out in zone, something Canton anticipated and worked on countering during practice.

“We watched some film on them, and I knew if they went zone, and sucked down on Isaiah a little bit, I would get some open looks,” explained Kitchen. “That’s what we were practicing all week, and I was able to make my shots.”

Canton had six 3-pointers in the first quarter in all, generating open looks with crisp passing and good spacing.

“It was big,” Kitchen said about getting the first quarter lead. “Everybody was getting fired up in the beginning.”

It was NEB, though, getting the good start in the second quarter. In the first 1:40 they went on a 5-0 run as Beers had a put back, followed by him and Seeley going 3-for-4 from the line.

Kitchen put an end to that run with a 3-pointer just as he came off the bench, making it 32-13 halfway through the quarter.

After a slower, defensive minded first four minutes of the second things picked up.

The teams traded buckets as Beers hit a lay-up off an Abell assist, followed by Weston Bellows scoring on a back door cut from a Connor Foust helper.

Crown then scored a lay-up off a Beers assist, with Canton answering as Foust had a lay-up of his own.

The last couple minutes, though, it was all NEB. Or, more aptly, it was all Crown, as he hit back to back 3-pointers to make it a 36-23 game at the half.

The strong defense of the second quarter continued in the third as neither team scored until the 6:30 mark. That’s when Williams had a put back to extend Canton’s lead to 38-23.

Finch had a put back of his own for NEB, followed by another Crown 3-pointer to make it a 10-point game with 4:50 left in the third.

Four straight points from Williams extended it back to a 14 point advantage for Canton, but a Jampo 3-pointer off a Beers assist stopped the bleeding.

Then, in the final minute and a half, NEB went on a 7-2 run, punctuated by a Crown 3-pointer, to cut it to 44-38 with just the final frame to go.

Scoring was, again, tough to come by as the first points didn’t come until after two minutes into the final stanza, but it was NEB continuing to chip away as buckets from Finch and Seeley - plus a free throw by Beers - made a 1-point game, 44-43, with 4:40 left to play.

Canton finally got a bucket as Williams found Kitchen, extending it back to a 3-point lead with just over four minutes to go. At the 3:45 mark Finch had a driving lay-up to cut it to a 1-point deficit again, 46-45. 

After the two teams traded missed jumpers Beers had a lay-up to put NEB up 47-46 with 2:35 left in the game.

That’s when Niemczyk came to the forefront. 

The junior, 6-foot, 4-inch forward was quiet most of the game, but on Canton’s ensuing possession he answered with a tough jumper as NEB sent two defenders at him, putting the Warriors back on top 48-47 with two minutes to go.

NEB’s next possession ended with a turnover while Canton followed with a missed jumper at the one minute mark. 

That's when Niemczyk came up big on defense as Finch had a break away lay-up off the miss, but the Warrior got back on defense and blocked the attempt from behind.

That set up his jumper in the lane with 40 seconds to play to make it a 3-point game, 50-47.

Canton’s defense kept NEB from getting a clean look at the end, but the Panthers appeared to get a break as Crown was fouled in the backcourt, sending him to the line with 13.7 seconds left.

He missed the front end of a 1-and-1, though, with Canton recovering the rebound. They passed the ball around until Niemczyk hit an open Williams on a full court pass, who laid it in to seal the win, 52-47.

“It was a good learning experience, being up a lot of points at the half,” said Niemczyk. “It taught us a pretty good lesson.”

It was closer than their coach Brock Kitchen probably would have liked after going up so big in the first quarter, but the Warriors accomplished their goal of starting 3-0 on the year - all of them division wins.

Things only get tougher from here, though, for Canton, as they host Wellsboro Monday, travel to Wyalusing Wednesday and host Troy on Friday - all teams with NTL title aspirations.

“We’re just focusing on getting these three big wins next week,” said Niemczyk. “We’ve got some tough games coming up.”

NEB finishes out their first week today as they travel to Athens for a 5:30 p.m. varsity start, after the JV game, which starts at 4 p.m.

They come back to full strength on Monday when forward Dan Williams returns as Burgert believes, after their scrappy short handed showing so far, they can still make waves in the NTL.

As Friday night showed, no matter how things look at the beginning, anything can still happen.

CUTLINE: Canton’s Cooper Kitchen (left) and Connor Foust (21) battle for a loose ball with NEB’s Lucas Crown Friday…PHOTOS BY CHRIS MANNING.