Panthers avenge loss, move on
BY BOB BENZ THE LEADER

CAMPBELL - The seventime defending county champion Campbell-Savona Panthers had something to prove going into Tuesday's opening round of this year's Steuben tournament.

Yes, the forth-seeded- Panthers actually had redemption on their mind against fifth-seeded Canisteo-Greenwood, which last month handed Campbell-Savona its first loss in mor than six seasons.

After a slow start, Campbell-Savona eventually started to resemble the team that had dominated the league for close to a decade en route to a 55-40 victory over the Redskins.

"This is the one the guys really wanted to go back after obviously," Campbell- Savona head coach Merlin Button said. "We took that first county loss that we'd had in about 10 years and all week we've talked about that and we talked about what we needed to do."

The Panthers not only avenged a 14-point loss to Canisteo-Greenwood Jan. 4, but revved up a fast-break transition game that got better as the game went on and helped the team pull away in the second half.

Senior Maynard Crane led the way, putting together a double-double that wasn't far off from the quadrupledouble. Crane netted 10 points, pulled down a teambest 10 rebounds, came up with seven steals and dished out six assists.

Perhaps most importantly, Crane and the Panthers elevated their running game to a level that has rarely been seen this season at Campbell-Savona.

"Once we got into the flow of the game, I didn't think they could run with us, especially when Maynard is running well," Button said. "We really haven't gotten into a flow a lot of times this year and I'm really glad the guys are now doing that. We're working hard on that because it's going to be important for us all the way down the road here."

After slipping into an 11-3 hole late in the opening quarter, the Panthers battled back and grabbed a 22- 18 lead going into halftime.

Late in the third quarter, Campbell-Savona's transition game really took off.

Clinging to a 28-27 lead, Camden Wright's steal and layup started the Panthers on a 16-3 run that put Campbell-Savona in firm control of the game.

The Panthers trapped and transitioned, threw lots of long outlet passes and started to look a bit like the team that has advanced to the state Final Four round in each of the past two seasons.

Zach Sutton netted a team-high 12 points for the Panthers, while Tom Overhiser came off the bench and chipped in with eight points. Wright finished with seven points, distributed three assists and came up with three steals. Tim Parker connected on Campbell-Savona's lone 3- pointer and added six points.

"It was just a tremendous team effort," Button said. "A lot of guys contributed and did a lot of nice stuff."

Campbell-Savona also took care of the ball, turning it over just eight times.

For most of the game, the Redskins didn't quite look like the team that snapped Campbell-Savona's mammoth league win streak.

"I think we stopped executing offensively, we kind of got more in a one-on-one battle," Canisteo-Greenwood head coach Collin Button said. "They defended well and we missed some easy layups and we missed quite a few free throws and it was hard to win against a quality team when you do that.

"I took a risk trying to press them a little bit, hoping to get a couple turnovers," Button added. "Early on in the game, we made sure we played in a halfcourt set to slow them down. I knew if they got into transition, they're dangerous, but we got down eight or 10 points and I thought, we might as well give it a try, see if we can cause some havoc and it worked out for them."

Brett Ryan led Canisteo- Greenwood (16-6) with 14 points.