Boys’ basketball team takes down Eagles

After suffering a close home loss to Foxboro on Friday, the Canton High boys’ basketball team came away with a hard-fought 63-58 win over hosting Sharon on Sunday afternoon, avenging an earlier 52-36 loss to the Eagles. The win improved Canton’s record to 5-10 while dropping Sharon’s to 8-8.

The Bulldogs played well throughout the game despite being without starting center Dominique Purvis and backup center Michael Charles, and forward/center Josh Sheehan came up big with 13 points, a few key blocks, and several rebounds.

Reserves Wade Ransome and DaQuan Pendarvis both played well off the bench, each grabbing several rebounds and playing good defense. Head coach Mike Devoll also praised the play of Jakiel Moses-Harris, who filled in for Colby Gavigan at forward when Gavigan had some foul trouble. Junior guard Anthony Bires also played well, capping off a great week — 18 points against Foxboro and nine on Sunday.

Joe McCabe, who was all over the court, had a tremendous game, scoring 21 points, grabbing several rebounds, making several steals, and hitting several free throws.

Canton hit 22 of 30 attempts at the line, a good improvement over Friday’s loss to Foxboro in which Canton connected on only nine of 23.

Against Sharon, the lead seesawed throughout the game. Down 10-2 early, Canton tied it at 11 at the end of the first quarter and led at the half 27-26. The Bulldogs led 43-40 after three periods and was leading 57-55 with 2:07 left in the game. Canton pulled away for good when Sheehan and McCabe made most of their free throws.

Also paying well were Chris Murray (11 points) and Scott Levy, who both played good defense and made some great passes.

The 54-51 loss to 3-11 Foxboro, a team Canton previously beat 43-35, was especially disappointing to Devoll because it was a stellar game for Gavigan and Bires. Bires nailed six three-point shots, and Gavigan played an outstanding two-way game with 16 points and several steals and rebounds.

It was Gavigan who almost single-handedly brought Canton back from a 22-11 deficit early in the second quarter to a much more respectable 24-22 deficit at halftime. Gavigan drove to the basket, hit some jumpers and played good defense, but the home crowd gave him a great ovation when he followed up on a missed free throw, got the rebound and made a basket.

As for Bires, Devoll said he is proving to be a good shooter and is adding to the team’s offensive arsenal — as opposing teams continue to clamp down on the Bulldogs’ leading scorer, McCabe, who had 12 points on the night.

The game was lost at the free throw line, but Devoll also said his team did not play well in the last few minutes of the game. “We’re up three with three minutes to go,” he said. “We call a timeout, miss a layup, they make a three-pointer, and we miss seven free throws. It is a shame because we got such great games from Colby and Anthony.”

Gavigan’s basket put Canton ahead 48-45 with 3:21 left in the game and the only other basket after that was a three-point shot by Bires with 2.5 seconds left.

The Bulldogs were scheduled to play Southeastern Vo-Tech on Monday, travel to Oliver Ames tomorrow, and host Stoughton this Tuesday.

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Posted by Mike Berger on Feb 10 2011. Filed under High School, Sports. Both comments and pings are currently closed.