Canton guard Jack Mansur (15) tries to move the ball against Cromwell’s Brendan Stafstrom in Thursday night’s game in Canton. (Photo courtesy Paul Amrose)
CANTON, Dec. 28, 2017 – Ryan Enns had a game-high 20 points and Tim Keating and Luke Brown added 11 points each as the Canton High boys basketball team won their home opener Thursday night with a 53-39 non-league victory over Cromwell.
Noah Budzik had 18 points, including four 3-point shots, for the Panthers, who lost for the first time this season. The Warriors (2-0, 1-0 NCCC) led by three at halftime and stretched the lead to 10 by the end of the third quarter.
Enns got 20 points despite playing with foul trouble, missing significant portions of the game.
Canton head coach Craig Archambault was pleased with the win – the first victory over a Shoreline Conference team in his six years behind the bench.
“It was a good, early non-conference win for us,” he said. “Overall, I thought the kids played really well.”
Canton has 10 guys – all that got varsity playing time a year ago. But they did lose one of their great defenders – All-State forward Ethan Burke. “As a team, we did pretty well defensively,” Archambault said. “We held them to 39 (points) which is right where our goal is. We dug in and played defense.
“Offensively, we’ll continue to get better. We turned the ball over a bit too much but we had great leadership from our seniors,” Archambault said. It was Canton’s first win over the Panthers since 2005.
The Warriors return to the floor on Saturday night when they host defending Berkshire League champion Lewis Mills at 7 p.m. in Canton. Mills went 19-1 a year ago – its lone regular season loss was to the Warriors in a 51-43 decision last December. This year, Mills is 2-1 after dropping a 55-38 contest to Northwest Catholic earlier this week.
Canton 53, Cromwell 39
At Canton
Cromwell (39): Noah Budzik 7 0 18, Reese Reyes 2 1 6, Austin Roy 2 0 4, Gabe Charleston 2 0 4, David Dewey 1 1 3, Nick Wright 1 0 2, Brendan Stafstrom 1 0 2. Totals 16 2 39
Canton (53): Ryan Enns 7 6 20, Tim Keating 5 1 11, Luke Brown 4 1 11, Grant Lange 1 2 4, Mitchell Cormier 2 0 4, Chris Tenczar 1 0 3, Jack Mansur 0-0-0. Totals 20 10 53
Cromwell (3-1) 9 10 7 13 – 39
Canton (2-0) 8 14 14 17 – 53
Three-point goals: Budnik (Cr) 4, Reyes (Cr), Brown (Ca) 2, Tenczar (Ca)
