THURSDAY NIGHT THRILLER: Red-hot Canton hangs on to edge Salem
Canton and Salem players were hitting the floor on a regular basis, hustling after loose balls.
In a Plymouth-Canton Educational Park rivalry game that featured more momentum swings than easy buckets, it was a steal that ultimately sealed the deal.
Clinging to a 50-49 lead with under a minute to play, Canton senior guard Teddy Winstel ripped the ball from the grasp of Salem’s Mitch Robillard as he dribbled into the paint for a potential lead-changing shot.
Winstel swung the ball back to Alex Persinger, who fired it to Bradley Ezuika, who canned two free throws after getting fouled.
One final Ezuika free throw with 4.1 ticks left made it 53-49 — and proved monumental after Salem’s Ryan Peters swished a buzzer-beating triple to finish the intense contest at 53-52.
The Chiefs, who played without starting point guard Caleb Williams, improved their record to 11-2 overall and 7-0 in the KLAA West Division — two games in front of second-place Howell.
To watch a few highlights from Thursday night’s game, click here.
No quit in Rocks
The Rocks, who led early and battled hard to the final buzzer, slipped to 3-11 overall and 2-5 in the division.
“Teddy’s steal was huge,” Canton Head Coach Jimmy Reddy emphasized moments after his team’s latest down-to-the-wire triumph (since Jan. 9, the Chiefs have registered two one-point wins, one three-point victory and a four-point win).
“Our team defense was really good tonight. Joey’s (Pierson) defense was pivotal — I thought he did a great job on Ryan Peters, who is tough to guard — and Bradley’s defense was pivotal.
“We’ve been playing good team defense. We held Hartland to four points in the fourth quarter last night. Winning on back-to-back nights like we did is hard. I don’t care how we did it; what’s important is we did it.”
Williams, who is Canton’s all-important glue guy, suffered a sprained ankle three minutes into the second half in his team’s 47-44 win at Hartland Wednesday night.
‘Next man up’
“I was proud of how our team played without Caleb over the the final 10 or 11 minutes in a tough environment,” Reddy said. “We were down one heading into the fourth quarter, but it was a next-man-up mentality. AP (Persinger) was awesome for us down the stretch, much like he was tonight.”
Canton was led by senior forward Devon Pettus (15 points), who after he is fed passes within 10 feet of the basket is like a bull in a china shop.
Pettus routinely powers through two or three defenders before finessing the ball into the nylon once he arrives at his destination.
“Just go score,” Pettus said Thursday night, when asked what his mindset is when he is delivered passes inside or near the paint.
“When I get it down low like that, my mindset is, ‘Nobody is going to stop me’.
Close game expected
“With Caleb out tonight, it was next man up. It’s such a big rivalry game when we play Salem, so you know it’s going to come down to the wire like it did.”
While pre-season on-lookers may have been skeptical of the Chiefs’ chances this season after losing leading scorers Dante Favor and Omar Sulieman, Pettus and his teammates were always believers.
“There were a lot of doubters after Omar and Dante graduated,” Pettus said. “Honestly, myself and my teammates expected this kind of start. We love proving the doubters wrong.”
The host Chiefs built a 34-25 lead early in the third quarter when Pettus buried a short shot while being fouled.
Canton led 45-38 with 6:14 to play, but Robillard (15 points) swished a deep-corner trey to cut the Rocks’ deficit to four.
Two kinds of 3’s
The teams then exchanged three-point possessions — Winstel sank a long triple before Salem freshman Mitch Paspal countered with an old-fashioned and-one three-point play seconds later.
Peters, who led Salem with 21 points, brought the Rocks to within 50-49 with a slick fade-away jumper at the 3:15 mark.
With just under two minutes left on the fourth-quarter clock, Canton maintained possession with a pair of offensive rebounds before Robillard drew a charge on Pettus to give the ball back to the Rocks.
The final minute was fun and frenzied before ending like most Canton-Salem games usually end — with a one-possession point differential.
Ed Wright can be reached at 734-664-4657 or edwright@socialhousenews.com.
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