By William / www.mcpherson-county-ks.com
GOESSEL – It was a true tale of two games for the Canton/Galva boys as they scored a high-scoring, win over Burrton on Friday night before losing a close battle to Elyria Christian on Saturday in the Bluebird Classic.
On Friday, the Eagles fell behind early and took a seven-point, 22-15 deficit to Burrton into the second quarter before they were able to turn the offense on and put a whopping 32 points in the scorebook in the second quarter and take a commanding 12-point, 47-35 lead into the halftime break.
Coming out of the break, Burrton cut the lead down by just three points, giving Canton/Galva a solid 66-57 lead heading into the final eight minutes of play where they put another 23 points on the board to gain the final 15-point, 89-74 victory.
Leading the Eagles on offense was Garrett Maltbie who connected on four three-points and scored 15 of his game high 20 points in the second quarter. Lane McMannis also reached double digits in the scorebook with 12 while Xavier Westbrook scored 10 thanks to a nine-point fourth quarter. Christian Darrah just missed double figures with nine.
On highlight of the game on Friday with Burrton was the fact that the Eagles won the game without having all-stater Tyson Struber on the court as he got into early foul trouble before fouling out in the second half and played very limited minutes in the game.
On Saturday in the Bluebird Classic championship match up with Elyria Christian, the Eagles fell behind early and were never able to get caught up as they lost 42-34.
The Elyria Eagles took an early five-point, 14-9 lead at the end of the first quarter and then extended it out to an eight-point advantage over Canton/Galva at the halftime break, 24-16.
The Eagles came out more aggressive in the second half but were unable to whittle down the deficit they had leaving Elyria Christian with the championship trophy.
The Eagles struggled from the field, hitting just 28% of their shots while Elyria was able to put down 39% of their attempts. Inside the paint was another spot where Elyria held an edge overall as they pulled down 34 rebounds to just 29 for the Eagles.
Neither team could fight off issues handling the ball as the two Eagle teams combined for 40 turnovers with 19 of those belonging to Canton/Galva and 21 to Elyria.
Canton/Galva also did not have a response Elyria’s Keyan Wiggers who had a double double with 13 points and 12 rebounds.
Garrett Maltbie was the lone Eagle to reach double figures and he had 10 points while both Tyson Struber and Christian Darrah each scored eight.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR “AREA TEAM”?
The loss on Saturday was the first of the season for the Eagles so they are now 4-1 going into their Tuesday night tangle on the road at Lyons.
CANTON/GALVA EAGLES vs. Burrton at the Bluebird Classic
SCORING: 1 2 3 4 FINAL
EAGLES 15 32 19 23 89
Burrton 22 13 22 17 74
TEAM STATS: EAGLES Burrton
Shooting N/A N/A
3-Pointers 8/?? 10/??
Free Throws 11/29 17/23
Rebounds (Off/Def) N/A N/A
Assists N/A N/A
Turnovers N/A N/A
Steals N/A N/A
Blocked Shots N/A N/A
Personal Fouls 20 18
CANTON/GALVA EAGLES INDIVIDUAL SCORING & STAT LEADERS:
Scoring (89 Total Points): Christian Darrah – 22; Garrett Maltbie – 18; Lane McMannis – 12; Xavier Westbrook – 10; TJ Koehn – 10; Cason Mastre – 9; Tyson Struber – 4; Brayden Doughman – 4.
Three-Pointers Made (8): Garrett Maltbie – 4; Christian Darrah – 2; Lane McMannis, Cason Mastre – 1.
Rebound Leaders: No Stats Available.
Assist Leader: No Stats Available.
Leader in Steals: No Stats Available.
Leader in Blocked Shots: No Stats Available.
CANTON/GALVA EAGLES vs. Elyria Christian Eagles at the Bluebird Classic
SCORING: 1 2 3 4 FINAL
EAGLES 9 7 12 6 34
Elyria 14 10 11 7 42
TEAM STATS: EAGLES Elyria
Shooting 14/50 (28%) 15/38 (39%)
3-Pointers 3/22 (14%) 2/16 (12%)
Free Throws 3/8 (37%) 10/15 (67%)
Rebounds (Off/Def) 29 34
Assists 8 7
Turnovers 19 21
Steals 9 13
Blocked Shots 2 4
Personal Fouls 16 10
CANTON/GALVA EAGLES INDIVIDUAL SCORING & STAT LEADERS:
Scoring (34 Total Points): Garrett Maltbie – 10; Tyson Struber – 8; Christian Darrah – 8; TJ Koehn – 6; Lane McMannis – 2.
Three-Pointers Made (3): Garrett Maltbie – 2; Tyson Struber – 1.
Rebound Leaders: No Stats Available.
Assist Leader: No Stats Available.
Leader in Steals: No Stats Available.
Leader in Blocked Shots: No Stats Available.