PLAY ELYRIA CHRISTIAN FOR TRIP TO STATE
By Staff
GOESSEL – On Friday evening the Canton/Galva boys joined the Lady Eagles in reaching the championship game of their sub-state after they took care of Sylvan/Lucas with 64-52 victory.
The 12-point win the Eagles are now sitting at 16-5 for the season and will battle Elyria Christian (18-3) in the Sub-State Finals for an opportunity to play at next week’s Class 1A Division I state tournament. Elyria Christian, who defeated sub-state host Goessel 57-28 to make the finals, has already played and beaten the Eagles twice this season.
“We came out ready to play,” noted Larry O’Connor, head coach of the Eagles. “The gym atmosphere was outstanding, and it got our kids off to a good start. Sylvan/Lucas is a talented team and extremely well coached. Their player named Dohl is one of the best overall players we have faced this season and Lane McMannis had the task of guarding him and did a fantastic job. The Sylvan/Lucas kid ended up with 17 points but all his shots were contested and Lane did a great job of denying him the ball.”
Canton/Galva held a slim one-point, 11-10 lead at the end of the first quarter before pushing the advantage out to seven points by the halftime break. Both teams put 20 points on the board in the third quarter before the Eagles made themselves a cushion in the fourth and finished out the game with the final 12-point win.
Jett Vincent scored 12 of the Eagles 18 second quarter points as he led the team in scoring with 29 points. Both Wyatt Collins and Garrett Maltbie just missed double digits with nine each.
(Wyatt Collins)
Coach O’Connor closed out his post-game reflections by saying, “Jett (Vincent) led us in scoring with 29, but all our guys played their rolls extremely hard all game. Junior Eagle, Jaden Ediger, came off the bench and hit two back-to-back three-pointers that really energized us in the third quarter. Cason (Mastre) is playing great basketball by getting the pace of the game to where we need it to be and then creating scoring opportunities for his teammates. Big challenge on Saturday as Elyria Christian has already beaten us twice this season, but we are ready for the tough challenge and the opportunity to get to Dodge City next week.”
CANTON/GALVA EAGLES vs. Sylvan/Lucas in Sub-State Semi-Finals
SCORING: EAGLES > 11-18-20-15 = 64; Sylvan/Lucas > 10-12-20-10 = 52.
CANTON/GALVA EAGLE INDIVIDUAL SCORING > Jett Vincent – 29; Wyatt Collins – 9; Garrett Maltbie – 9; Cason Mastre – 6; Jaden Ediger – 6; Lane McMannis – 5. 3-Pointers Made > Vincent, Ediger – 2; Maltbie – 1.
(The Staff covering events for the MAC AREA SPORTS NEW can be reached by email at crossdovewriter@gmail.com)