Injuries a factor in two-game slump for boys’ hoops team

Plagued by injuries, the Canton High basketball team lost twice last week, falling to Southeastern Vocational Technical School 45-44 and Oliver Ames 64-47.

The Bulldogs’ final week of the regular season included a home game against Stoughton on February 15. Canton will play in the Hockomock Classic against the fourth place team of the Kelly-Rex Division at CHS today (Thursday) at 4 p.m., and will travel to Fairhaven on Sunday, February 20.

The playoffs start the week after February vacation. The Bulldogs have made the playoffs, despite a 5-12 record, because they won a majority of their games against Division 3 opponents.

Against the Southeastern Hawks, the Bulldogs were without starting center Dominique Purvis (illness) and center Michael Smith, who was recovering from a broken nose. (Smith returned Friday against Oliver Ames but Purvis was still out.) Scott Levy went out with a knee injury in the first half, Anthony Bires left the game in the first half after crashing into a padded wall, and DaQuan Pendarvis was missing from action.

The Bulldogs, who had beaten the Hawks 58-43 earlier this season, led throughout the first three quarters this time around —15-11 at the end of the first, 25-21 at the half, and 42-36 at the end of the third quarter — but scored only two points in the fourth quarter. Hawk guard Malik Bern hit a three-point shot to win the game with 20 seconds to go.

“We stood around too much in this game and didn’t really have much of an attack,” coach Mike Devoll said. “We had back-to-back games and just didn’t have any legs in the fourth quarter. We had nothing left at the end of the game.”

Joe McCabe led the Bulldog offense with 13 points, followed by Josh Sheehan (11) and Colby Gavigan (nine).

In the OA game, the Tigers used their height, athleticism, and the shooting of junior guard Nick Bruha (22 points for the game) to jump out to a halftime lead of 32-19. But the Bulldogs came into the second half with a full-court press and lots of energy. McCabe started to heat up with his three-point shooting, and the Bulldogs cut the OA lead to seven at 34-27 with 5:14 left in the third quarter. Both teams traded baskets for the next few minutes, but the Tigers scored the final seven points to take a commanding 48-32 lead into the final quarter.

McCabe worked very hard for 25 points and Gavigan hustled all over the court for eight. Chris Murray also played well at point guard, filling in for the injured Levy.

“The effort was there, especially in the second half,” Devoll said. “To be effective against this team, you really have to get to the foul line, slow the game down, but they had too much for us.”

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Posted by Mike Berger on Feb 16 2011. Filed under High School, Sports. Both comments and pings are currently closed.