Canon-McMillan rallies to edge Peters Twp.
McMURRAY – Just call them the Comeback Kids.
As they have done multiple times this magical season, the Canon-McMillian High School boys basketball team got off the canvas and delivered a late knockout to win. Their latest escape came Friday night as the Big Macs came back from 11 points down and defeated Peters Township 41-38 at the Indians’ home gym. The win earned the Big Macs a 17-5 overall mark, good enough to tie the 2007-08 team for the most regular-season wins in school history.
“These kids are just so resilient,” coach Rick Bell said afterwards. “This past Tuesday, at home, we were down five against Baldwin late and came back to win, We were down against Bethel Park by six and came back and won in OT. We’ve been doing this a lot down the stretch.”
With the win, the Big Macs finish 9-3 in section and a spot in the Class 6-A playoffs. The postseason hopes of the Indians (5-7, 12-9) were dashed with the loss.
“We’ll give the kids some time off and just get ready for next year,” Indians coach Gary Goga lamented. “We’ve got some young kids coming back.”
Suffering through an injured foot, Canon-McMillan’s R.J. Bell was in the throes of a rough shooting night as he missed his first six shots. But his tip-in with less than a minute to go gave the visitors a one-point lead that they would not relinquish. The putback was his only bucket of the evening.
“I’m just so proud of him battling out there,” Coach Bell said. “He really has not been able to practice too much because of the foot injury.”
Elliott Waller made two late free throws to give the Big Macs a three-point lead. Peters Township had a chance to tie it at the buzzer but Mike Cortese’s three-point attempt bounced off the rim.
Cortese led the Indians with 11 points while Canon-McMillan’s Carson Miller led all scorers with 16 points. Miller made five of six foul shots in the fourth quarter, buoying the Big Macs as they clawed back into the contest.
Using a stifling zone defense and stout rebounding, Peters Township put themselves in position to defeat their archrivals on Senior Night. A late Matt Stuck three-pointer gave the hosts a 17-10 lead that the Indians took into the halftime locker room.
“I kind of had to calm our kids down,” Bell said. “I know they were looking at the score and saw we only scored 10 points at the half. But I reminded them we were only down seven.”
With 3:30 remaining in the third, the Indians stretched their lead to 29-18 after a Conor Pederson layup. But from there, the Big Macs employed a half-court trap defense and turned the tide.
“It’s something that we normally don’t do, due to the fact you leave some gaps, but it worked out for us, for sure,” Bell noted.
Canon-McMillan’s defense forced 22 turnovers and eventually broke the game in their favor as they finished on a 23-11 run.
“We just didn’t take care of the ball,” Goga said. “Plain and simple, we just didn’t take care of the ball at the end.”
Two Miller three-pointers late in the third to go along with his performance from the foul line in the fourth quarter were key.
“He passed up some shots in the first half ,” Bell said in reference to Miller. “He was actually being selfish for not shooting it. I told him to shoot it more in the second.”
Two Miller free throws gave the Big Macs a 37-35 lead with 2:04 left in the game. Dax Ploskina’s three-pointer 37 seconds later gave the hosts their final lead before the younger Bell played hero.
“Our leaders, Miller, Bell and Waller, really stepped up for us tonight, just as they have all year,” Coach Bell added.