At this time of year, there are no teams left that will quietly crawl away once a lead has been established. Playing hard in the final four minutes isn't good enough.
The Warriors saw an opportunity to play for the NCCC championship evaporate in a stunning 55-52 loss to East Windsor last Friday night on Senior Night. Canton ended the week with a record of 17-2 overall and 10-2 in the league.
Avon (16-3, 12-0) clinched the league championship on Friday with a 78-51 win over Enfield to remove much of the anticipated sizzle from Wednesday's regular season finale with Canton. The Warriors could have earned a piece of the league title with a victory.
Canton did beat Avon a few weeks ago but it was considered a non-league game. For basketball in the NCCC, each team plays their 13 league opponents once. If two teams are scheduled to play twice, it is game two that counts as the league contest.
Visiting East Windsor (11-7, 8-4 NCCC) outscored Canton 14-5 over the last 5:23 of the contest, limiting Canton to just two field goals.
A dagger to the Warriors' hopes came with 33.7 seconds left with Canton trailing by one, 49-48. East Windsor's Dan Gonzalez was fouled and sank his first free throw. His second rolled off the rim but no one blocked out East Windsor's Dan Christensen, who swooped in for the rebound and tapped it back in to extend the lead to four, 52-48.
"I challenged my kids to show me something I didn't think they had in them," East Windsor coach George Thomas said. "That was a lot of heart." Gonzalez had a game-high 22 points
This game wasn't lost in the final few minutes but in the third quarter and early stages of the fourth when Canton was sloppy with the basketball, missed offensive rebounds and several close shots. Three times in the second half, the Warriors had nine-point leads only to see the Panthers crawl back into the game.
"We just thought we would go along and do what we needed to do to win," Canton coach Eric Deegan said. "But it came down to we didn't play as hard as we could for four quarters and that came back to bite us."
Dwayne Rivers had 18 to lead Canton while Chris Robitaille and Joey Dionne each added 10 points.
"We've been living on the edge," Deegan said. "We've had five or six close games. Three went our way and two didn't. When you play that many close games, it always doesn't work out for you."
Last week, Canton did beat East Granby, 71-64, as Dionne pumped in a career-high 19 points. Rivers scored 20 while Robitaille added 13.
The eight-team boys NCCC tournament should begin some time this weekend with quarterfinal games in Avon and either Canton or Granby, depending on who finished second in the league.
GIRLS BASKETBALL: A strong third quarter surge by East Granby enabled the Crusaders to beat Canton, 37-31 in the final game of the regular season for the Warriors, who finished 1-19 overall and 0-13 in the league. Sarah Getz had a game-high 12 points.
"Their attitude was great. It wasn't like they wouldn't wait for the season to be over," Canton coach Jeanne Holian said. "They listened, worked well and got along. We know where we want to go. It's up to them to do what they have to do."
In fact, Holian held some optional practices this week for the players, who had a busy winter. Most of the players played in the varsity and junior varsity games. While frequently overmatched at the varsity level, the Warriors won 10 of their last 12 junior varsity games including wins over Avon and Tolland to finish 10-8.
WRESTLING: Two Canton wrestlers won medals at last weekend's Class S tournament at St. Bernard in Uncasville. Junior Mike Rossley finished fourth at 119 pounds, losing in the consolation finals 8-0 to top-seeded Drew Stomski of Nonnewaug. Rossley had three pins in the tournament but lost in the semifinals to eventual champion Jake Miller of East Windsor.
Dana Nappi (140) also advanced to the semifinals but he dropped a 9-5 decision to Aashen Arango of Hartford Classical. Nappi hurt his back in a loss to Housatonic's Jon Bonnett in the consolation round and finished sixth. Nappi's big win was a 14-12 decision over No. 2 seed Chris Mastrianni of Derby in the quarterfinals.
Stephen Carpenter (103) was seeded third. He dropped a quarterfinal match and won a match in the consolation round before he got shaken up and was eliminated in the consolation quarterfinals.
Canton finished 23rd in the field of 33 teams with 43 points. The Warriors (5-25) had no seniors.
"They weren't seasoned enough," Canton coach Bill Phelps said. "It is hard to get seasoned just wrestling during the season. If they want to do well, they'll have to do some work in the off-season."
Rossley qualified to wrestle in this weekend's State Open tournament.
INDOOR TRACK: Two Canton runners qualified for the CIAC State Open at the New Haven Athletic Center last Saturday. Senior Jasen Watson finished 14th out of 15 in the 300 meters with a time of 37.85 while senior teammate Nate Bussiere was 15th out of 17 in the 600 meters with a time of 1:27.95.
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