The Canton-Galva High School boys basketball team ran into a torrential
storm Tuesday night at Peabody, as Aaron Topham poured in 17 points
while leading the Warriors to a 58-28 win over the Eagles. Topham was
not the only Peabody-Burns player making it rain, as Sean Jones dropped
12 points and Martin Hoffkamp splashed 10. The Canton-Galva girls
doubled up PBHS 46-23 on the strength of a big night by Kaitlyn Bressie
who (unofficially) scored 19 points.
Topham got the Warrior boys started with a long 2-pointer for a 2-0
lead, and PBHS never trailed. Topham ended a 17-2 first quarter run
with a 3-pointer from well beyond the arc at the top of the key. More
damaging to Canton-Galva's chances, Codey Johnson picked up two
offensive fouls in the first 2:18 of action: one for charging at 6:52,
the other for an illegal screen at 5:42. Johnson missed most of the
quarter, but reentered at to start the second quarter and sparked the
Eagles offense, scoring three of Canton-Galva's 16 points in the period.
The CGHS defense limited Peabody-Burns to 15 in the second frame,
but could not dry out Topham's monsoon. Topham took a long outlet pass
to the rack for a layup and a 22-9 PBHS lead, and banked in a short
jumper to make it 31-12 with 1:33 to go in the quarter. But the Eagles
dominated the rest of the period, scoring back-to-back layups by
Johnson and Tad Wedel before tacking on a buzzer-beating midrange
2-pointer by Bryant Baldwin that cut the Warriors halftime margin down
to 32-18.
PBHS put the game utterly out of reach with a 16-5 third quarter,
and Topham's shooting again provided the impetus. Topham drained a
12-foot baseline jumper a moment after drawing John Shearer's third
personal foul, and soaked the net with a catch-and-release 3-pointer
from the right wing corner with two minutes left in the quarter. The
sharp shooting helped create two 3-point play opportunities for the
Warriors: one converted by Jacob Simmonds at Shearer's expense and
another which saw Brian Wingert fight through Baldwin's foul to score
the layup, but miss the free throw with 35 seconds to go.
In the fourth quarter, Destin Nightengale manufactured a
traditional 3-point play opportunity for Canton-Galva and finished the
night with a team-high eight points. Naturally, Topham stole
Nightengale's thunder: he ran the floor, took a pass from Wingert and
drained a fast break 3-pointer from the left wing corner?the game's
final basket, which also increased the margin to 30, starting the running
clock with 3:55 to go.
Bressie took over the girls game late in the first quarter,
knocking down a 3-pointer for a 10-7 lead, breaking a tie forged when
Danielle Savage hit the second of two foul shots at 2:29. Peabody had taken a 3-0 lead on a triple by Julie Wedel, who struck
again with a 3-pointer from the top of the key 3:20 into the first
quarter. Canton-Galva rallied to take a 7-6 lead it with a 2-pointer
and a 3-pointer by Enns combined with a 2-pointer from the deep left wing corner by
Alyson Bressie. CGHS outscored the Warriors 39-17 afterward.
Cayla Sommers
gave the Eagles a 12-7 lead through one quarter with a mid-range
jumper. Bressie nailed a 3-pointer, a free throw and a 2-pointer before
picking up her first foul at 5:06 of the second quarter, and tacked on
a 2-pointer.
Tara Scott put back an offensive rebound for 24-13 Canton-Galva halftime lead.
Bressie hit a free throw, a left wing triple, and a mid-range
jumper before picking up her second foul with 2:21 left in the third
quarter, and made it 38-17 with two minutes to go. Allie Enns
made it 40-20 with a long 2-pointer just before the quarter ended.
Sommers accounted for four points in the fourth quarter, scoring a short jump shot and setting up a long 2-pointer by kicking out an offensive rebound with 4:45 to go in the game.
