Connect with us

Boys Basketball

Canton surge in final four minutes enables Warriors to beat Ellington

Canton’s Ryan Enns drives to the basket through three Ellington defenders in Tuesday night’s win on the road. (Photo courtesy Bill Brewster)

ELLINGTON, January 16 – Canton’s Grant Lange had 13 of his career-high 18 points in the second half and teammate Matt Rose had six points in a 13-2 surge in the final four minutes of the game that lifted the Canton High boys basketball team to a hard-fought 60-54 NCCC victory over Ellington on Tuesday night.

Ellington had a one-point lead with 4:35 remaining in the game before Canton (7-1, 5-1 NCCC) went on a 13-2 run over the next 3:25 to seize command of the contest. The biggest lead to that point had been three points.

Trailing by one, Rose had back-to-back baskets for Canton with 4:00 and 2:48 remaining to give Canton a three-point lead, 48-45.  Ellington’s Kevin Redler scored with 2:31 left to cut the lead to one but Ryan Enns scored for Canton with 2:05 left in the fourth quarter and Rose added another bucket with 1:31 left to extend Canton’s lead to five points, 52-47.

Grant Lange had a career-high 18 points including four 3-point goals in Tuesday’s win over Ellington. (Photo courtesy Bill Brewster)

Canton’s Luke Brown sank eight of nine foul shots in the final minute to close out the contest and give Canton their seventh win in eight games. Brown sank 11 of 14 foul shots and finished with 14 points.

The win enabled Canton to remain a game and a half behind undefeated Rockville (7-2, 7-0 NCCC) in the league race. Canton and Hartford Classical (6-1, 5-1 NCCC) are tied for second in the league with East Windsor (6-2, 4-1) and Granby (4-2, 3-1) also with one loss each in the league.

Lange had 11 points in the third quarter, including sinking three 3-point shots, as the game went back and forth with the Purple Knights. Lange finished the game with four 3-point goals. Rose finished with 11 points, which tied a career high. He had 11 against Hartford Classical last February. Enns finished with nine points for the Warriors.

Matt Rose had a dominant fourth quarter as the Warriors won their seventh game of the year. (Photo courtesy Bill Brewster)

Canton played without two regular contributors – guard Chris Tenczar and forward Mitchell Cormier – both out with injuries. It was Canton’s third straight win over Ellington and their fourth win over the Knights in the last five games.

Canton returns to the court on Friday night when they host Suffield at 7 p.m.  Canton plays Rockville in the final game of the regular season on Tuesday, February 13, at home at 7 p.m.

Canton 60, Ellington 54

At Ellington

Canton (60) Luke Brown 1 11-14 14, Tristian Witzgall 0 0-0 0, Jack Mansur 1-0-3, Thomas Amrose 0-0-0, Ryan Enns 3 3-9 9, Grant Lange 7-0-18, Tim Keating 0-0-0, Matt Rose 5 1-2 11, Jack Rose 2 1-1 5. Totals 18 16-26 60

Ellington (54) Kevin Redler 4-2-12, Anthony Beasley 4-1-11, Nick Abbruzzese 1-0-2, Colin Garrow 3-2-11, Jared Buffington 1-2-5, Gavin Laughlin 3-0-7, Ryan Zahner 2-2-6. Totals 18-9-54

Three-point goals: Brown (C), Lange (C) 4, Mansur (C), Redler (E) 2, Beasley (E) 2, Garrow (E) 3, Buffington (E), Laughlin (E)

 

NCCC standings NCCC Overall
Rockville 7-0 7-2
Canton 5-1 7-1
Hartford Classical 5-1 6-1
East Windsor 4-1 6-2
Granby 3-1 4-2
SMSA 4-2 5-3
Windsor Locks 4-3 6-3
Bolton 3-3 5-3

As of January 16

Bill Brewster contributed to this report

Since 2009, the Collinsville Press has been providing award-winning coverage of sports and news in the Farmington Valley and across Connecticut.

Click to comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

More in Boys Basketball