Furious Canton rally falls short against Windsor Locks

Windsor Locks’ Nate Pierce (22) is about to swat away the shot by Canton’s Andrew Zukowski (20) in Friday night’s game in Windsor Locks.

CANTON – It won’t be easy for the Canton High boys basketball team the next few weeks. The Warriors host undefeated East Windsor (6-0) on Tuesday and face long-time rival Avon (3-4, 3-1 NCCC) on Friday night in Canton.

Next week, the Warriors host Ellington on Tuesday night before traveling to Stafford next Friday night, Jan. 24.

Canton hopes to use some lessons learned in last week’s 52-47 loss to Windsor Locks to their benefit. Canton (3-2, 2-1 NCCC) trailed by as many as 17 points. They battled back and twice cut the lead to one point in the fourth quarter. But they couldn’t take the lead.

“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.”

Against some of the top teams in the league, Canton won’t be able to afford stretches of the game where they might disappear. “We’re going to have to be more consistent with our physical and mental efforts,” Archambault said.

Windsor Locks forced plenty of turnovers to close out the first quarter with a 10-4 run. In the second quarter, they hit several three-point goals on an 11-0 run to pushed the lead to 17 points with 5:02 left in the second quarter.

Fortunately for the Warriors, Windsor Locks couldn’t sustain the pace. Canton closed out the second quarter with a 6-1 run to trim the haltime lead to 12 points. Andrew Zukowski had a steal and a coast-to-coast run for a layup and Cam Daley scored in the lane to help fuel the run.

In the third quarter, Daley ripped down an rebound on Windsor Locks’ first possession. At the other end of the floor, he scored on a reverse layup. When the Raiders took the ball, he quickly stole it away and fed sophomore Cameron Lange for a bucket that cut the lead to eight. And then point guard Rieley Hoffman picked up a steal.

“It was heart,” Archambault said. “We had the energy and effort and we got back to playing Warrior baseball. We preach playing hard and playing physical.”

But the end of three quarters, the Windsor Locks lead was down to eight points.

“They’re a well-disciplined team,” Windsor Locks coach Michael Masaro said. “They forced us into making turnovers. They took away our point guard in the second half.”

Windsor Locks took a seven-point lead, 44-37 with 4:54 remaining but Canton’s Lange drained a pair of three-point goals on its next two possessions to cut the lead to one, 44-43 with 3:53 left in the game.

Locks extended the lead to three but Hoffman drained two free throws with 3:07 left to cut the lead to one again, 46-45. Canton’s defense forced a turnover but Windsor Locks’ Zach Weigart had a big block of Shane Toland in the low post with 2:50 remaining.

Locks drained a pair of foul shots with 1:11 left to push the lead back to three 48-45. Canton turned the ball over on a pass with a minute left but Daley stole the ball and fed Hoffman for a layup with 45 seconds left, cutting the lead to one, 48-47.

Nate Pierce had a key steal with 20 seconds remaining for Windsor Locks, which sank four foul shots in the final 22 seconds to secure the victory.

Lange led the Warriors with 13 points and three 3-point shots. Cam Daley added 11 points while Zukowski, Hoffman and Wood had five points each for Canton.

Pierce led Windsor Locks with 16 points while Jon Oliveria added 13 and three 3-point goals.

The loss snapped a modest two-game win streak for the Warriors, who had beaten East Granby, 63-49 in their home opener and a six-point victory over Coventry, 57-51. Hoffman and Lange, a pair of sophomores, had 17 points each in the win over East Granby – a season-high for both players.

Against Coventry, it was Zukowski who led with 15 points while Hoffman added 10.

NOTES: Avon has a 10-game winning streak against Canton, which last beat the Falcons in 2007. … Ellington has won four straight against Canton with the Warriors last win in 2009. … Canton had won 13 of 14 games against East Windsor before the Panthers took a pair of games in 2012 and 2013.

Upcoming schedule
JANUARY: 14: EAST WINDSOR; 17: AVON; 21: ELLINGTON; 24: at Stafford; 27: SOMERS; 28: ENFIELD; 31: at East Granby
FEBRUARY: 4: at Suffield; 7: COVENTRY; 8: HARTFORD CLASSICAL: 11: at Somers; 14: SMSA; 18: at Bolton; 20: GRANBY; 21: at Shepaug

Windsor Locks 52, Canton 47
At Windsor Locks
Canton (47): Rieley Hoffman 1 3-5 5, Alex Daley 1-0-3, Ben Sullivan 1 1-3 3, Andrew Zukowski 2 1-2 5, Jake Wood 2 0-2 5, Cam Daley 5 1-2 11, Cam Lange 4 2-2 13, Shane Toland 1-0-2. Totals 17 8-16 47
Windsor Locks (52): Alphenzo Zapenta 2 5-7 9, Reed Lynch 1-0-2, Nate Pierce 7 0-1 16, Hector Martinez 0 2-6 2, Tyler Labbe 1-0-2, Jon Oliveira 5-0-13, J.R. Huntington 1-0-2, Zach Weigert 2 2-2 6. Totals 17 9-16 52
Canton (3-2)                        11   9  10  17 — 47
Windsor Locks (6-1)            18  14   6  14 – 52
Three-point goals: A. Daley (C), Wood (C), Lange (C) 3, Pierce (WL) 2, Oliveria (WL) 3