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Canton, Ohio – Canfield defeated Warrensville Heights, 68-46, in the second regional semifinal at the Canton Memorial Fieldhouse Thursday night.
The two teams traded buckets back and forth in the opening period. London Mitchell led off with a triple to give Warrensville the early lead. After a split pair of free throws by Ben Weaver, Dom Cruz cashed in a trey of his own, as Canfield took the lead, 4-3, midway through the first.
Anthony Russo also got in on the fun with a triple of his own, increasing the Cardinal lead to 13-8. The junior guard had seven points in the first quarter. Jailen Billingslea countered with a triple to trim the score to 13-11 after one.
The second quarter was more of the same, as the two teams continued to trade baskets. Canfield pushed their lead to 28-22 before Chris Brownlee drew contact on a late three-point attempt. He sank all three to cut the Warrensville Heights deficit to 28-25 at the half.
Warrensville cut the deficit to one on a couple of occasions, but never broke through to take the lead in the third quarter. They trailed, 43-41, following a Chris Brownlee Jr. layup. Canfield scored the last five points of the stanza, first with a Ben Weaver bucket, then an Anthony Russo basket, drawing three the hard way. The Cardinal lead stood at 48-41 going into the final quarter.
The Cardinals raced out to a double digit lead and pulled away from there, outscoring Warrensville Heights, 20-5, in the final frame.
Junior guard Anthony Russo finished with 17 points, followed by senior guard Dom Cruz, who had 16 points (13 coming in the second half). Junior guard Drew Shapiro added ten.
Warrensville Heights was led by senior guard Chris Brownlee Jr., who finished with 15 points. Fellow classmate London Mitchell finished with 12, and Que Miller finished with 11.
Canfield’s win, coupled with Ursuline’s victory over VASJ in the earlier semifinal, ensured at least one team from the Youngstown-Warren area will punch their ticket to Dayton. Saturday night’s Division II regional final at the Memorial Fieldhouse on Saturday, March 16th, will determine who that team is.
Extended highlights below:
