East Windsor’s fourth quarter surge spoils Canton’s upset bid

Canton’s Andrew Zukowski had 10 points and 11 rebounds against East Windsor Tuesday.

CANTON – The Canton High boys basketball learned a valuable lesson last Friday night against Windsor Locks. Effort and energy make a difference.

Canton trailed by as many as 17 points against the host Raiders. The Warriors battled back and twice cut the lead to one point in the fourth quarter. But they couldn’t make the leap forward and grab the lead and Windsor Locks held on for a five-point victory.

“The difference was energy and effort,” Canton’s second-year coach Craig Archambault said. “We were flat. We were tentative and we were back on our heels. We had 12 turnovers in the first quarter.”

Last night at home, the effort and energy were there. It wasn’t enough for the Warriors to hand East Windsor its first loss of the season but Archambault was pleased with the effort.

“It’s the best effort I’ve seen on this basketball court in the two years that I have been here,” he said. “They played their hearts out. We defended the best we have all year. They just have some excellent players.”

East Windsor’s 6-foot-2 Kevin Mocadlo had nine of his game-high 15 points in the fourth quarter as the Panthers (8-0) prevailed, 49-40 with 22 points in the fourth quarter.

Canton led by eight at halftime, 21-13 and by three, 30-27, after three quarters. “We were right there,” Archambault said. “When you play that hard, good things happen.”

Andrew Zukowski led the Warriors (3-3, 2-2 NCCC) with 10 points and a team-high 11 rebounds. Shane Toland pulled down 10 rebounds and scored our points. Cameron Lange had 10 points, including two 3-point shots.

Canton will need to improve their foul shooting. The Warriors sank just 10 of 17 free throws and missed on the front end of 1-and-1 opportunities four times.

The Warriors are in the midst of a challenging stretch of their schedule. Canton hosts Avon (4-3) on Friday night at 7 p.m. Next week, they host Ellington on Tuesday night before traveling to Stafford next Friday night, Jan. 24. 

East Windsor 49, Canton 40
At Canton
East Windsor (49): Frank Wadsworth 1-7-9, Dajon Farley 4-2-10, Kevin Mocadlo 3-8-15, Chris DeSousa 1-0-2, Giovanni Wickham 2-4-8, Adam Fisher 2-1-5. Totals 13-22-49
Canton (40): Rieley Hoffman 2-4-9, Andrew Zukowski 3-3-10, Cam Daley 3-1-7, Cameron Lange 3-2-10, Shane Toland 2-0-4. Totals 13-10-40.
East Windsor (8-0)               6  7  14  22 – 49
Canton (3-3)                        12  9  9  10 – 40
Three-point goals: Mocadlo (E), Hoffman (C), Zukowski (C), Lange (C) 2