Boys Basketball: Bulldogs Fall to Sharon

Two Hockomock League boys' basketball rivals got reacquainted Friday night as hosted Sharon High School. After a slow start, Sharon came back to take control of the contest and with a 15-0 run to start the fourth quarter, went on to a 53-36 victory over the .

Sharon only had three wins all of last season and now is 2-0, after the victory over Canton and a season-opening non-league victory over Medford, 88-80.

"We showed offense in the first game and defense in this game," said Sharon coach Bruce Jackman. "Both teams had a lot of new players and I feel it helped us having a game under our belt."

Both teams were without top players. Sam D'Arcy, a 6'4" junior big man for Sharon and Canton junior forward Joe McCabe were both sidelined, which hurt both team's offenses.

Canton wanted to utilize its fast tempo offense and was able to do so at the outset, against Sharon's man-to-man defense, jumping out to an early 15-6 lead. The junior duo of Chris Murray and Colby Gavigan each scored seven points in the run, but that would be all the points both players would score for the remainder of the game.

Sharon Senior Captain Eric Bennett then took control of the contest. Bennett scored the last six points of the first quarter, on his way to 22 points and 15 rebounds, to help cut the deficit to 15-12.

The Eagles then made some defensive adjustments going to a zone defense and putting full court pressure on the young Canton guards. Offensively, the Eagles slowed down the game and took advantage of their height with pick and rolls and more shots in the paint. Over the final three quarters, Sharon had a 17-2 advantage in offensive rebounds which led to a 16-0 advantage in second-chance points.

 "We couldn't get anything going offensively, after the first quarter against their tough zone and then we slowed down and let them begin to dictate the tempo,"said Canton Coach Mike Devoll. "Then they beat us on the boards and got too many second chances, and we just couldn't recover.

Sharon took a two-point lead into halftime and a four-point lead into the fourth quarter as the stubborn Bulldogs remained close. The senior trio of Josh Sheehan, Dominique Purvis and Wade Ransome along with junior Scott Levy each had four points for the Bulldogs.

 The game was decided in the fourth quarter as Sharon outscored Canton, 15-0, in the first four minutes, to go up by as many as 19 points, 47-28. Sharon's depth began to wear down the Bulldogs.

 Senior Captain Josh Parness had 10 points for the Eagles. Sharon also got strong efforts from its low-post players senior Alex Simard (six points), junior Mitch Goldenberg (four points and eight rebounds) and sophomore Kevin Bartas.

Both teams will return to league action on Tuesday night.