Surging Canton storms past Plymouth for 5th straight win
Canton’s Dante Favor defends Plymouth’s Marshall Thorn in the post.
For the first time in its past three wins, Canton’s boys basketball team posted an NDR victory over host Plymouth.
No Drama Required.
Exactly one week after needing an Omar Suleiman beyond-half-court buzzer-beating heave to defeat Salem and four days after edging Novi in overtime, the Chiefs cruised to a 57-35 triumph over their cross-campus rival Wildcats.
The Chiefs are now 4-0 in the Kensington Lakes Activities Association’s West Division and 6-5 overall (according to KLAAsports.org). Plymouth slipped to 1-3 and 4-7, respectively.
Plymouth hung tough through the early moments of the third quarter when it trailed just 26-22 after Zach Jones drained a pair of free throws. However, Canton pulled away with a 10-2 run that was punctuated by a top-of-the-key three by Dante Favor and an and-one three-point play by Suleiman.
Suleiman, Favor fuel Chiefs
Suleiman, whose amazing buzzer-beating heave ignited a well-deserved media blitz (the video was shared abundantly on social media and on WXYZ Channel 7), actually closed out the first quarter of Tuesday’s game with a just-inside-half-court shot at the buzzer, but it fell short.
The way the Chiefs played in the second half, it didn’t matter.
Led by the one-two punch of Favor (15 points) and Suleiman (14 points), the Chiefs outscored the ‘Cats 39-20 over the final 16 minutes. Caleb Williams added eight points for the winners while Bradley Eziuka added seven.
Favor and Suleiman both threw down rim-rattling dunks. Suleiman’s capped what appeared to be a benign baseline drive until he soared above two Plymouth defenders to hammer home the game’s exclamation point.
Foul trouble hurts Plymouth star
Plymouth, which led 7-6 after the first quarter, was hamstrung by early foul trouble by 7-footer Kelvin Amoako, who committed his second foul four minutes into the game, forcing him to sit out the final 12 minutes of the first half. He was called for his third foul at the 6:09 mark of the third quarter and fouled out with 5:36 left in the game.
Amoako was effective when on the court, accounting for 12 points and eight rebounds. Bryce Garbacz finished with 10 points for Plymouth while Orlando Daniels finished with four points and five boards.
Canton made 10 of 16 free-throw attempts while Plymouth canned just half of its 12 shots from the stripe.
