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Canton, Harrisville earn rematch in Section 10 finals

dave shea, watertown daily times, n.y.
·4 min read

Feb. 28—Harrisville opened its season with a nonleague 63-60 overtime win at Canton which dropped the host Golden Bears to 0-2.

Since that game the two teams have forged parallel courses of excellence which will come full circle on Friday at 6 p.m. at SUNY Potsdam's Maxcy Hall when the Bears and Pirates meet for the Overall Section 10 Championship.

In the regular season Canton went undefeated winning the NAC Central Division title and Harrisville ran the table in the NAC West.

Canton stands at 20-3 overall and Coach Troy Lassial's Section 10 Class B championship team has won 15 straight games since a loss to Section 2 Class B power Stillwater. The Bears advanced to the Overall Championship game with a 51-28 win over Class C Champion Tupper Lake (19-4) and will be seeking a third straight Overall Championship.

Harrisville enters Friday's Overall Championship game with a 21-2 record after outscoring Class A Champion Massena (14-8) 61-47 in Tuesday's crossover game. The Pirates only losses came to Section 3's top seeded Class D team Sackets Harbor in the championship game of the Patriots Charlie Bridge Tournament and in a nonleague game against Potsdam.

Both games were decided in overtime.

Tuesday's semi-final games featured three NAC Division MVPs and three finalists for the Joe Jokoski Memorial Award which went to NAC East MVP Tom Peterson of Tupper Lake. He is the first Tupper Lake player to receive the award which has been presented since 1976.

Canton's Ryan Jones, who shared the NAC Central MVP Award with Potsdam's Ian VaWagner, and NAC West MVP Tanner Sullivan of Harrisville were also finalists for the award.

VanWagner, who has scored over 1600 points after his freshman season, was the first freshman to be recognized as a Joe Jokoski Award finalist. All four finalists were high scoring multi-talented guards.

Canton 51 — Tupper Lake 28: Tom Peterson provided Tupper Lake with a promising start to the game as he scored off a drive to the goal and then soloed for a layup after a steal near midcourt.

It proved to be the Lumberjacks' only lead in the contest.

The Bears scored the next 11 points and continued to control opponents with their defense. Ethan Francey and Ryan Jones matched up with Peterson and TL's second 1000-point scorer 3-point sniper Mikey Corneau. The Bears constantly hedged over screens and walled up the lane to contain Peterson's penetrating ability and took away Corneau 3-point looks.

Peterson, who became Tupper Lake's all-time leading scorer in his senior season, never relented from his off-the-dribble attack on the rim, however, and scored a game-high 18 points with 12 in the second half.

Jones went 10-10 from the foul line in a 16-point outing. Francey scored four points in the Bears' early 11-point run and scored his eight points in a 24-11 first half lead.

Zadok Roiger scored five points in the first quarter and finished with 12 in the game and Talon Green buried a pair of 3's scoring 13 points. Paul Redfern and Aiden Richardson each scored two points and Jackson Ames added one.

"Our defense was good but we didn't play well on offense. We have to fix that," said Canton Coach Troy Lassial.

"It is the time of the season where Ethan Francey looks to shoot the ball more."

Tupper Lake's scoring was rounded out by seven points from Garrett Pelkey and two from Mikey Corneau and Ashton Clark.

Harrisville 61 — Massena 47: It was tale of two halves in the second game of the night where Harrisville earned a chance to win their Overall Championship since 1987..

In the first half the lead was volleyed with the guard tandem of Taylor Mitchell and Colin Patterson providing key points and strong rebounding out of the Raiders' zone defense.

After trailing 14-12 after the first quarter the Pirates pulled into a 24-24 tie when Nolan Sullivan scored at the rim off an inbounds pass from Aiden Chartrand just before the halftime buzzer.

The Pirates ran a lot of their offense through center Joe Sheppard in the second half where he scored 11 of his 12 points. The Pirates also capitalized on an injury to Taylor Mitchell in the third quarter to make a quick run which keyed a 25-17 surge.

Tanner Sullivan buried three 3-pointers scoring a game-high 20 points for Harrisville and Nolan Sullivan dropped in 10. Liam Winters netted six points and Aiden Chartrand and Brendan Loos each added two.

"We ran our offense much smoother in the second half. Massena has quick guards and it was good for us to play them," said Harrisville Coach Brian Coloney.

"We have to move the ball well or we are going to be in trouble against Canton.

Colin Patterson led Massena' scoring 12 of his team-high 15 points in the second half and Taylor Mitchell scored 11 of his 14 points in the first half. Chris Boyea rendered an eight-point effort with two 3s, Tapeni LaBrake added seven points and Brandon Barnes drained a 3-pointer.