Battle testing
Canton hopes tough out-of-conference schedule makes it stronger in postseason
The Canton boys basketball team has been very streaky this season. The Warriors opened the year losing four of their first five. Then they went on an eight-game win streak, followed by a three-game losing streak. They finished by winning three of four games.
Canton played a difficult out-of-conference schedule, losing to Cromwell, 19-2 and a Division IV semifinalist last year, 64-47 on Feb. 2; they also lost to Northwestern (17-3) 67-56 on Feb. 6 and a Division 2 team, Guilford (15-6), 63-43 on Feb. 13.
“We wanted to try to challenge ourselves this year and we definitely played teams with very good records,” head coach Craig Archambault said. “I think that helped us for when we got into the league.”
At 13-8, they don’t have the best overall record in the North Central Connecticut Conference (NCCC), but they do have the best conference record (10-2, tied with Windsor Locks, but Canton beat the Raiders to break the tie). Canton earned the No. 1 seed in the NCCC tournament, which started last Friday. The Warriors beat Somers in the quarterfinals 47-40 to move onto the semifinals, which will pit them against Ellington Wednesday (the game was moved from Tuesday due to the forecast) at East Granby High.
“They’re such resilient, tough kids,” Archambault said. “We had a lot of adversity at the beginning of the year as a program and the kids stuck with it.”
Point guard Brandon Powell is the glue that holds the team together, averaging 16 points, nine rebounds and five assists per game. He had a triple double (19 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists and six steals) in the last regular season game against East Hampton.
Top performances of the week
Calvin Chaney, Comp Sci: Chaney scored 34 points in a 94-89 double overtime win over International Tuesday.
Talib Christian, Bulkeley: Christian had 29 points in a 58-55 overtime win over Rocky Hill Thursday.
Michael Coggins, Suffield: Coggins scored 23 points in a 61-55 win over Windsor Locks Wednesday and had 18 in a 60-50 loss to Ellington in the NCCC tournament.
Riley Fox, Conard: Fox hit the game-winning shot with a putback at the buzzer and had 30 points in a 57-55 win over Northwest Catholic in the first round of the CCC tournament Thursday.
Da’mnic Gittens, Cheney Tech: Gittens scored 39 points and had 10 rebounds in a 78-75 victory over Hartford Public Tuesday.
Collin Gudeman, Stafford: Gudeman had 25 points in a 58-56 victory over Rockville in the NCCC tournament play-in game Wednesday.
Trey Lindsey, Windham Tech: Lindsey had 23 points and 23 rebounds in a 73-70 overtime loss to Lyman Memorial Tuesday.
Anthony Nimani, Platt: Nimani hit two free throws with 2.5 seconds left in Platt’s 54-52 CCC quarterfinal win over Glastonbury Saturday and had 20 points.
Victor Payne, Cromwell: Payne had 22 points in an 83-38 victory over Coginchaug in the Shoreline tournament quarterfinals Saturday.
Darren Zahner, Ellington: Zahner scored 19 points in a 60-50 win over Suffield in the NCCC tournament
quarterfinals Friday. Storylines of the week
Conard, the 15th seed, upset No. 3 Northwest Catholic in the first round of the CCC tournament Thursday, 57-55 at Northwest Catholic. Riley Fox, who had made a free throw to give Conard a 55-53 lead, had a putback as time expired for the win. Conard beat Newington 41-32 in the quarterfinals.
Xavier coach Mike Kohs got his 350th win with a 62-48 victory over East Lyme Monday in the last game of the regular season. Xavier (16-5) lost in the SCC tournament quarterfinal to Fairfield Prep 65-47 on Saturday.
Games to watch this week Ellington (18-3) vs. Canton (13-8) at East Granby, Wednesday, 7 p.m.:
Ellington goes up against top-seeded Canton in the NCCC tournament semifinals, which were moved from Tuesday to Wednesday due to the forecasted snow. The Knights beat Canton 65-37 on Feb. 4.
Windsor Locks (18-3) vs. SMSA (15-6) at East Granby, Wednesday, 5 p.m.: Windsor Locks will try to take down the defending conference champion in a NCCC semifinal game. The Raiders beat SMSA 65-59 on Jan. 10.
Morgan (14-7) at Cromwell (19-2), Wednesday, 5 p.m.: Morgan beat Cromwell in the last regular season game 66-61 and the two teams will face each other again in the Shoreline Tournament semifinal game which was moved from Tuesday to Wednesday due to the snow forecast.