Boys hoop shines in road win vs. Southeastern
By Mike BergerThe CHS boys basketball team evened its record at 2-2 with a convincing, 69-54 road win over Southeastern Regional Technical School on Thursday, December 22. Earlier in the week, the Bulldogs lost at Taunton 59-47. The Tigers are now 3-0 and tied with Franklin for first in the Hockomock Kelley-Rex Division while the Bulldogs sit at 2-2 along with three other teams in the middle of the Davenport Division.
In the win over Southeastern, several Bulldogs delivered strong performances, led by Matt Chafin, who shot 7 of 11 from the field for a season-high 20 points while grabbing five rebounds, handing out six assists and making four steals. Zaza Francoeur also had a big night with 16 points, six rebounds and two assists while Julius Hicks had 16 points of his own, including four made three-pointers, to go along with five rebounds and five assists.
Other key contributors in the win included Jamaal McConnell (8 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists) and Caden Mirliani (6 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals).
Head coach Eric MacKinnon was quite impressed with some of team totals the Bulldogs put up, including 16 offensive rebounds, 22 assists, 11 steals, and 11 successful three-point shots.
“We were down two at the half against Southeastern but came out in the second half with great energy and focus,” said MacKinnon. “We got a lot of stops defensively, which led to some transition conversions. We shot the ball well, which opened some driving lanes up for us.”
Against Taunton, MacKinnon said the Bulldogs got off to a hot start, leading by five after the first quarter. But the Tigers started chipping away at their lead in the second quarter and didn’t let up after halftime.
On an encouraging note, Taunton’s best player, Troy Santos, who had 44 points in a game earlier this season, only managed nine points against the Bulldogs.
McConnell paced the visitors in the loss with 13 points while grabbing nine rebounds and blocking two shots. Francoeur added 10 points, six rebounds and two blocks and played great defense on Santos.
Canton was due to play in the Milton Holiday Tournament with a game against Milton today and an opponent to be determined tomorrow at noon.
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