Sports

Canfield wins seventh in a row with 60-36 victory over Boardman

By Mike Brown

January 3, 2024 4:20 PM

Canfield’s Drew Shapiro, left, prepares to inbound the ball as Boardman’s Kaden Mayhew, right, defends during Tuesday night’s varsity boys’ basketball game in the Cardinals’ gym. Mike Brown/Mahoning Matters

CANFIELD — Make that seven-in-a-row.

The Canfield High School boys’ basketball team remained one of the hottest squads in Mahoning Valley after posting its seventh consecutive win in a 60-36 triumph over Boardman before a large crowd in James W. Watkins Gymnasium here Tuesday night.

“Not our best ball, but good,” observed Canfield’s Hall of Fame head coach John Cullen. “It was just a good kind of game where we learned from our lessons in the first half and that’s what we want to do — we want to get better as the game goes on.”

Canfield now 7-2

The Cardinals are now 7-2 on the season (1-0 in the All-American Conference) and their two losses occurred in their first two games nearly a month ago to New Albany and Youngstown Ursuline, two clubs with a combined 11 wins.

With the setback, Boardman is now 3-6 on the season (0-1 in the AAC).

“In the first half we got good looks and did exactly what we wanted to do and we’re right there and it (the shot) doesn’t go, and that’s been our MO this year,” said Boardman head coach Pat Birch. “And from there, I think we start to lose confidence and it kind of snowballs on us a little bit.”

Dom Cruz leads Cardinals with 19 points

Canfield’s 6-0 senior Dom Cruz, one of the best guards in the area, poured in a game-high 19 points, including 10 in the first quarter as Canfield jumped out to a 12-6 lead and never trailed.

“I put a lot of time in — all summer,” said Cruz who has perfected his craft. “Last year, I was really just a shooter and when I would get face-guarded I really couldn’t get out of that and score but now I’ve developed the inside game and now teams don’t really know what to do.”

“He (Cruz) finds ways to score that maybe aren’t there for other people,” praised Cullen. “I think they (his teammates) kind of learned a little bit from him going to the basket in the first half and a lot of guys started doing that in the second half.”

Complementing Cruz in scoring for the Cardinals were 6-4 Ben Weaver with 10 points, Tony Russo with nine markers and Sam Castronova and Jake DeLisio with eight points each.

“Teams especially try to play their defense on me, so I kind of used that against them and kicked it out to my teammates tonight and they were getting some buckets as well,” said Cruz. “We’ve had some good momentum, good practices the past couple weeks and we’ve had good energy, good defense and the guys are scoring a lot more.”

Terrell McDowell leads Boardman with 12 points

Leading the Spartans in double figures was guard Terrell McDowell with 12 points, while 6-3 teammate Grayson Eicher finished with eight points.

Canfield held quarter-stop leads of 12-6, 30-23, 44-31 and took its largest advantage of the evening at 24 points (60-36) at game’s end.

“They (the Cardinals) got going a little bit (in the second half) and we knew they would,” observed Birch. “They’ve got guys who can play and finish and score.”

“They (the Spartans) weren’t getting the same open shots they were getting (in the first half),” stated Cullen. “We played a little zone and we switched a little bit and we just gave them a little different look, so consequently they didn’t have the easy looks they had in the first half.”

In the junior varsity game, Boardman hit a barrage of three-pointers in the second half to record a 54-35 win over the Cardinals.

Canfield will travel to Austintown Fitch Friday night to meet the Falcons in a key AAC battle.

“They (Falcons) have 6-6, 6-6, 6-3 and 6-2 players and a Division I athlete at point guard who is 6-1,” said Cullen of 5-3 Fitch. “They have the best starting five in the league, but we also have some people. We split with them last year which caused us to tie with Harding for the league championship, so this is a big game for us.”

Boardman also returns to the hardwood Friday evening when the Spartans entertain the Massillon Tigers in an independent contest.

“The Tigers are really good, I think they’re 7-1 right now and they have a kid averaging 24 points per game, so it doesn’t get any easier,” closed Birch.