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Yappi.com writer CANTON—According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the definition of a bulldog states that it is “any breed of compact, muscular, short-haired dogs having widely separated forelegs and an undershot lower jaw that were developed in England to fight bulls.” For a certain team called the Bulldogs, they fought a pack of bulls in the Massillon Tigers and left the floor staggering with more questions than answers going into the off-season. No, it was not the Canton McKinley Bulldogs, but the other bulldog team in the tournament, the Green Bulldogs. The Tigers gave their crowd something to smile about last night in their Division I sectional contest against Green. The Tigers overcame an early 9-0 deficit by the Bulldogs and countered with a 13-0 run that sparked the way for an 80-55 win at the Canton Civic Center. The triumph advanced Massillon to next Thursday’s district semifinal against the Perry-Lake winner. Massillon junior guard Michael Porrini had the post-birthday present any high school player could have in the form of a triple-double. The 17-year-old star phenomenon recorded 19 points to go along with 10 assists and 10 steals. He also attested that winning on his birthday was special, including with a win over the Bulldogs. “It means a lot because it’s tournament time now. To come out a day after your birthday and beat the Bulldogs, I had fun tonight,” he said. Porrini turned his sights to the district semifinals where he predicted that the Tigers will meet the Perry Panthers again. He sent a message by telling the Perry crowd to “go home” following his buzzer-beater that silenced the Panthers at a sold-out Perry High School gym 61-60 earlier in the season. He doesn’t mind making himself the main target of their wrath provided the Panthers defeat Lake in the last sectional game. “I plan on doing it again but with more respect. I don’t want it this time to come down to the game-winning shot,” Porrini said. “Being in the lead, I want us to go home happy and go home calm.” 10th-year Massillon veteran head coach Matt Creamer was not pleased despite the final margin of the score. Most of that is what he attested was a lack of focus through their display of what he termed as “poor sportsmanship.” “I wasn’t happy with the fact that we tried to throw it off the glass and dunk it,” he said in reference to Mario Edwards’ botched attempt. “The fact that we got a little vocal towards their bench and stuff and some of our guys thought they got fouled is unacceptable. But the bottom line, lay it off the glass and get a three-point play. You have to know when to do those things and when you make stupid plays like that, you’re going to get hurt and I don’t want any of our kids to get hurt. We have to stay focused.” The Tigers’ focus was missing in action for half of the first quarter as Green’s Dan Whitmer started the game on a personal 7-0 run with two field goals and a three-pointer. Evan Elliott’s running lay-up gave the Bulldogs a 9-0 lead. But the Massillon fans would not be shocked and silent for long. The Tigers embarked on a 13-0 run as Porrini, Edwards, and Greg Fite willed the Tigers back into the game and into the lead, where the Tigers did not relinquish it the rest of the way as they led 19-11 after the first quarter. Massillon opened up a 17-point lead in the second quarter as the Tigers hit the Bulldogs with a 7-0 run. A three-point play by Fite, followed up by lay-ups from Ricardo Wells and Brian Gamble gave Massillon a commanding 32-17 lead. But the backbreaker came before the end of the second quarter. Assuming the role of a quarterback, Porrini audibled to Edwards from the left corner of his left eye. He lobbed the ball to Edwards, who rammed down a venomous two-handed monster dunk. Massillon’s crowd was on fire, they led 38-24 at halftime and Green was on their way to a 12-10 finish on the season. “When Massillon went on that big run (22-2), we just could not recover,” Bulldogs bench boss Mark Kinsley said. “But we are losing two seniors and we have a lot of guys coming back. It was a good experience for our kids to play this caliber of a team. Hopefully, we can come down and win the second round game and advance to the districts.” Kinsley went as far also to voice that Massillon can defeat either Perry or Lake. “They definitely can beat Perry or Lake because of their guard play,” he said. “Their guard play is the best in Stark County.” Brian Gamble led the Massillon direction with 25 points, 22 coming in the second half. Edwards finished with 17. Whitmer led Green with 30 points. Creamer still feels the Tigers can hit their peak. But he has put that on the shoulders of his team. “I still think our best ball game is out there,” he said. “But I can’t convince them of that. They have to convince themselves of that.” The Bulldogs came to fight against the Tigers, but it was the Tigers that were the ones left standing. STATS Field goals: Massillon 35/72 (49%), Green 21/51 (41%). Three-point goals: Massillon 5/19 (26%), Green 6/14 (43%). Free-throws: Massillon 5/14 (36%), Green 8/14 (57%). Turnovers: Massillon 14, Green 25. Fouls: Massillon 22, Green 21. Rebounds: Massillon 27, Green 31. Technical fouls: Massillon bench (dunk during warm-ups), 8:00 first quarter. Records: Massillon 19-2, Green 12-10.
Canton Division I sectional: GlenOak 65, Austintown-Fitch 39 CANTON—Senior guard Errick McCollum set the tone for GlenOak’s wire-to-wire victory with three lay-ups in the opening quarter to spark the Eagles’ in their rout over the Falcons. He led the way with 23 points for the Eagles. The Eagles return Wednesday night to meet two-time Division I AP poll and defending state ruler Canton McKinley 7:30 p.m. in a district semifinal. “I just took it upon myself to go out and do it. This is the tournament and if we don’t win, we go home. And we were not ready to go home,” McCollum. “It’s great to be one game from the district finals but we have to get ready for Canton McKinley.” Last year, the Bulldogs turned back the Eagles 51-42 in the 2005 district semifinal. |
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