Boys Basketball: Bulldogs Fall to Black Knights 73-53

At the beginning of the season, Stoughton Head Coach John Gallivan said one of the team’s goals was to become the first ever Davenport Division champions and on Tuesday night, they did just that, routing , 73-53.

With the up 14-13 in the final seconds of the first quarter, Stoughton’s Marcus Middleton drained a three pointer from the corner to put the up 16-14, and they never trailed again.

“I thought that the team responded in the second half to some of the complaints that I had about our style of play,” Gallivan said. “I thought we were soft in terms of defending the paint and I thought we were very soft in terms of attacking the offensive glass.”

Middleton, a sophomore captain, fueled the Black Knights with a career-high 24 points, 11 of which came in the first quarter.

“He had the shot going,” Gallivan said. “We tried to get him involved early by releasing him when his guy shot, instead of having him box out. He got a couple of easy ones but he also hit some tough shots tonight. Tremendous game from Marcus.”

Middleton was able to use his speed and get out in front of the Bulldogs’ defense.

“We were trying to sneak him out hoping that four guys could box out five [and] that it might lead to some easy baskets,” Gallivan said.

“That was the key, he gave them a really big lift,” Canton Head Coach Mike Devoll said of Middleton. “[He’s] a good player. It’s not like we think they’re [just] two players. They’ve got a good team. They’ve got a lot of balance and they’ve got some weapons. We tried to shut down Aaron [Calixte] and Kris [Joyce]. Kris has killed us for four years, but when that third guy or fourth guy steps up it makes a team tough to beat.”

Canton was able to hang around for the majority of the first half, but when push came to shove, Stoughton continued to make timely shots.

“I thought they played hard,” Devoll said of his team. “Stoughton made a lot of shots. We’ve run into a lot of hot teams lately. Stoughton made a lot of threes. Just when it seemed like we were getting close, they would knock down a big three.”

With the win, Stoughton earned a share of the first ever Davenport Division title. The Hockomock League was split into two divisions this year and Stoughton finished the season with a 6-1 record in the Small School Division.

“First time ever,” Gallivan said with a smile. “It’s obviously [that] this being the first year, it was one of our goals. It’s nice to accomplish goals, it’s nice to get the tenth win and qualify for the state tournament. It’s nice to beat a team twice because it might be easy the first time, but generally it’s never easy both times.”

Senior Dominique Purvis led the way for the Bulldogs with 14 points off the bench.

“He’d been missing from a couple games so it was good to get him back in the lineup,” Devoll said. “It was his best game tonight, attacking the backboard, getting to the foul line. I thought he did a really nice job for us. It was good to get that lift off the bench.”

Stoughton also got a big performance from senior Kevin Bui, who netted 12 points. It was Bui’s best scoring performance since an overtime loss to Franklin on December 21 of last year.

“I challenged a couple of players, one in particular was Kevin Bui, who I thought had the best half of [his] season in the second half,” Gallivan said. “He did everything to start that half.”

Bui was active on the boards all night for the Black Knights. He has played on the baseline all year for Stoughton and seemed to thrive there Tuesday night.

“He’s been in that low spot all year,” Gallivan said. “At some point and time he decided he couldn’t score from that spot. We challenged him tonight to be a scorer. The more you the think of yourself as a scorer, the more you play as a scorer. The more you play as a scorer, the more open the other guys are.  He did a nice job of turning what could have been a white-knuckle game into a more comfortable game.”

Canton junior Joe McCabe had 12 points but was the main focus of the Black Knights’ defense.

“We felt like he’s their best basketball player,” Gallivan said. “If you can take him out of his game and really make him work to score points, it would go a long way to the result we needed.”

“Teams are just keying on him,” Devoll said of McCabe. “Teams are really making sure they body him; they are riding him all over the court.  We’re trying to run him off some screens, get him some good looks. When he did get some good looks, he made some shots. He’s facing their best every night, their best defender, so it’s tough for him.”

On Thursday, the Canton Bulldogs will honor their seniors on Senior Night when they take on Franklin.

“It’s a good group,” Devoll said of his seniors. “Good, hard working, kids led by their two captains Josh Sheehan and Mike Charles. [There have been] no two finer kids that I’ve coached. Good leaders, hard workers.”

Despite the loss, Devoll is confident heading into the game against the Panthers.

“I don’t think it’s a step back. Stoughton made shots and we didn’t make shots,” Devoll said. “We were competitive with Franklin the last time we played them.”