Canton starts two game weekend series with win over Red Claws
Coming off a 115-102 loss on March 5 at the hands of the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, the Canton Charge was seeing red. Maine Red Claws that is. The Charge came away from the first meeting in the Portland Exposition Building with a 91-87 victory on Friday, March 8. The victory puts them one game ahead in their division (23-15) and third in the league and drops the Red Claws to 21-19. This victory evens the series between the two teams at 2-2 with two meetings left in the season.
Among Canton’s arsenal of weapons is the fact that the boast the top scoring defense in the league with an average of 94.8 points per game. This point was driven home as they allowed only 87 points in Friday’s game.
Six Charge players scored in double-digits in the game, led by Dominique Johnson’s 15 points on 7-of-15 shooting in 28 minutes of relief off the bench. Arinze Onuaku and Micheal Eric each notched their 12th and 10th double-double of the season respectively for Canton. Onuaku netted 12 points with 14 boards and two steals in 29 minutes, while Eric scored 12 points with 10 rebounds and three blocks in just 19 minutes. Kyle Weaver added 11 points, six rebounds, five assists and two steals in 37 minutes during his first start since joining Canton on February 25th.
The Red Claws were paced by DaJuan Summers’ effort of 16 points, six rebounds and four assists in 35 minutes. Fab Melo had five points with six rebounds and seven blocks in 32 minutes on assignment from the Boston Celtics. In his first game with Maine since being traded from Canton, Josh Selby scored 14 points with three rebounds and three assists in 21 minutes.
Canton Charge makes it two in a row in Maine
Following an exciting win on Friday, the Canton Charge trounced the Red Claws by 25 points with a 108-83 victory on Sunday night. The victory moves Canton ahead to 24-15 while Maine one more game down to 21-20.
At first it looked like the Red Claws were in control as they pulled ahead to a 21-17 lead in the first quarter. This was due in large part to eight Canton turnovers that netted eight points for the men in red. Canton was also off to a slow start with 5-of-14 hitting for only 29%. The Charge fared better in the second quarter hitting 53% but nine turnovers cost them as the Red Claws converted them for nine points and giving Maine a 39038 advantage at the half.
Canton toughened up in the third and with savvy ball protection and surrendered only two turnovers, hitting 56% that resulted in a season high 38 points for the quarter. Canton went into the fourth quarter with a 76-65 advantage and by combining the paltry 38 from the first half, the Charge racked up 70 points in the second half (a season high) to seal the victory.
Seven Charge players scored in double figures, led by Antoine Agudio’s season-high 21 points on 7-of-13 shooting with three rebounds, three assists and three steals in 42 minutes. Kyle Gibson poured in his 10th 20+ point game this season, finishing with 20 points on 6-of-10 shooting and 4-of-5 from three-point range. Arinze Onuaku had his second double-double in as many games and his team-best 13th of the season after he scored 12 points with 13 rebounds and two blocks in 23 minutes.
Maine was led by Chris Wright’s 20 points on 6-of-12 shooting with six rebounds in 33 minutes. Mark Tyndale scored 12 points and grabbed seven rebounds with two steals in 32 minutes. Curtis Jerrells added 14 points and nabbed five steals 35 minutes. Maine’s 25 rebounds were a new opponent season-low for the Charge. Canton now holds a 3-2 edge in the season series between the two teams, with their final meeting coming March 20th at Canton. The Charge currently hold a 2.5 game lead over Erie in the East with 11 games to play.
The Charge returns home to the Memorial Civic Center for a matchup with the Bakersfield Jam on Wednesday, March 13th at 7:00 p.m. It’s College ID Night presented by CSE Federal Credit Union, as tickets are just $5 with any valid ID card. For more information, fans can head to www.CantonCharge.com.
Canton Charge acquires Brady Morningstar from Tulsa 66ers in draft pick trade
Canton Sends 4th round draft pick to Tulsa in exchange for guard
Brady Morningstar will be coming to Canton from the Tulsa 66ers. The 6-4, 185 was traded in exchange for a fourth round draft pick in the 2013 NBA Development League Draft.
The 27 year old played both of his seasons in the NBA D-League with Tulsa and competed in 16 games this season. He averages 4.3 points with 1.5 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 0.8 steals in an average 13.9 minutes per game. His 2011-12 stats show his averages at 9.6 points with 2.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 0.9 steals in 27.7 minutes per game.
Hailing from the University of Kansas (2006-11), Morningstar played 116 career games there averaging 7.1 points on .488 shooting with 2.2 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.4 steals in 27.6 minutes per game. He made the Big 12 All-defensive Team after his senior year and was a member of three Big 12 Championship teams during his college career.
The Charge roster now stands at 11. By league rule, the team now has 48 hours before having to complete the transaction with a corresponding roster move.
Fans can stay up-to-date on team news by following the team at: @CantonCharge on Twitter at www.twitter.com/CantonCharge and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/CantonCharge.
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