BY CHRIS MANNINGNorthern Tier Sports Report
LAPORTE — Sullivan County hammered the boards on offense, and did enough defensively to hold off a late Canton charge in their 53-46 win in non-league boys’ basketball action Monday.
“That was definitely a hard fought win,” said Sullivan County coach Glenn Vaughan. “I have a lot of respect for how hard Canton played tonight, their kids are tough. It wasn’t the prettiest game in the world, obviously, but it was good to bounce back from that loss to Towanda, and get this one done.”
The Warriors’ length inside gave Sullivan problems all night as they tried to finish in the paint, but the Griffins made up for it with their activity on the offensive glass.
“That’s something we’ve got to do,” Vaughan remarked. “We’ve got four big men that are all competent, so we need them to hit the offensive glass, and get us as many easy baskets as they can throughout the course of the year.”
Canton got some good shooting from the perimeter, but had too many empty possessions as the Griffins were able to go on runs late in the second and third quarters to build leads.
Lucas King had 15 points to lead Sullivan, while Cayden Smithkors added 11 points. Tucker Blasi had 11 points, seven boards, and four steals, as Ryan Murray added seven points, six boards, and four steals.
Justin Hemighaus notched four points, with Colin King getting three points, and six assists. Jaiden Moore chipped in with two points.
Ben Fitch had 15 points to lead Canton as Talin Williams scored 12. Ryder Route added six, Quincy Wesneski notched five, Simon Wile added four, with Andrew Smith, and Ryland Wesneski getting two points apiece.
It was a back and forth first frame as Murray had a basket off a Colin King assist to put the Griffins up 2-0. Fitch would answer with a jumper, followed by a 3-ball out of Route, made it 5-2 Canton.
The Griffins answered with an 8-0 run, anchored by a 3-pointer from Smithkors as they took a 10-5 lead.
The Warriors responded with a 6-0 run, as Fitch had four of the points, making it 11-10 Canton.
Late in the quarter a Hemighaus bucket gave the Griffins an 11-10 lead at the first horn.
A Quincy Wesneski jumper to start the second put Canton back up 13-12, with Sullivan tying the game on a Smithkors freebie.
Williams put the Warriors up again with a jumper, but the Griffins answered with a 4-0 run on buckets by Lucas King and Smithkors.
A Ryland Wesneski jumper tied things up at 17-all. The two teams would again trade buckets for a 19-19 score.
However, Sullivan would go on a 6-0 run after that to take a 25-19 lead. Canton would go 2-for-4 from the line down the stretch of the second to make it a 25-21 score at the half.
Coming out of the locker rooms Murray hit a lay-up to push the Griffin lead to 27-21.
Canton rallied, though, with another Route 3-ball, followed by a Williams And-1 to knot the game up at 27-all.
A Blasi lay-up, followed by a pair of Lucas King free throws extended the Griffin lead to 31-27.
A Fitch freebie would cut it to 31-28, but Moore answered with a lay-up to push the lead back to five points.
A Quincy Wesneski 3-ball made it a 2-point game again, but from that point on Sullivan out scored Canton 6-2 down the stretch of the third quarter to take a 39-33 lead into the final frame.
The Griffins kept that momentum going into the fourth quarter as Lucas King found Smithkors for a bucket, then King hit a 3-ball to give Sullivan a double-digit lead.
Fitch made it 44-35 with a driving lay-up, but a steal and bucket by King pushed the Sullivan advantage back to 11 points.
It would get as much as 13 points with a Blasi driving lay-up with less than four minute to play.
A Wile 3-pointer off a Fitch assist got the Warriors started again, with Fitch following that up with a lay-up to cut the deficit to 48-40.
They appeared to make it a 6-point game but a lay-up rimmed out with 2:20 left to play. On their next possession Fitch got a steal and bucket to make it a 6-point game with two minutes left.
After Sullivan missed a pair of free throws Canton had a chance to make it a 1-possession contest, but missed.
They would sent Blasi to line, who hit 1-of-2 for a 49-42 lead.
At the other end Williams was fouled, and he made 1-of-2 to make it a 6-point deficit again.
Canton then sent Blasi to the line, who went 2-for-2 to push the lead to 51-43.
“I think there’s been a few times this year where he, as a junior, as played as a senior,” Vaughan said about Blasi. “I’m not going to say it was his best game, although he fought really hard defensively - I thought he did a nice job on Fitch - but at the end of the game, offensively I thought he was really intelligent.”
Canton’s next two offensive possessions ended with a turnover, and a miss. Williams would hit a 3-ball late to make it 51-46, but it was too little, too late. At the buzzer Murray got a lay-up for the final bucket of the game.
This game kicks off a tough stretch for Canton (4-3) as they travel to South Williamsport Thursday with a 7:30 p.m. tip-off. Then next week they face NEB, NP-Liberty, and Troy.
Things ratchet up for Sullivan County (7-2), too, as they host Northwest on Saturday with an 11 a.m. JV start. After playing eight of their first nine games at home, just four of the 13 games left on their schedule will be in Laporte.
“We’ve played pretty well here, but we’ve got to do better with the basketball,” said Vaughan. “We’re getting sped up a little bit too much, and not even by full court pressure, we just get sped up too much. We’ve got to be a little bit more composed with the basketball, and take advantage of our strengths on the offensive end, and continue to improve defensively.”
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PHOTOS BY CHRIS MANNING
