Canton Charge battles back for first home victory of the season
After opening the season 0-4 the Canton Charge powered by the NBA Champion Cleveland Cavaliers, hit their stride winning one on the road against the Long Island Nets on Wednesday, November 23rd. followed by their first home victory against the Iowa Energy (106-100) this past Friday at the Canton Memorial Civic Center.
It took Canton outscoring Iowa 45-25 in the final 16:31 in order to earn the win. Although the Energy was able to pull ahead 75-41 in the third quarter after posting a 14-1 run. Canton took advantage of a collection of Iowa penalties that gave them 12 trips to the charity stripe as they came to within three as the third quarter ended. Defense played a huge factor as Canton was able to keep the Energy scoreless for a total of 3:45 during the third quarter.
Iowa began the fourth quarter with a Wayne Selden layup but Canton fired back with a 11-0 run that included eight points from Chris Evans. This is the fifth game in a row that Canton has outscored Iowa.
Lead scorer for Canton was Chris Evans who topped his previous game high with 33 points on 12-of-20 shooting along with eight rebounds and five steals with 47 minutes of play. Quinn Cook was good for 28 points with six boards in 38 minutes. Grant Jerrett scored 13 and Mike Dunigan added 8 points, seven rebounds and two blocks. It was the foul line shooting that really spelled the difference as Canton hit on 27-of-33 attempts for 82%.
Iowa’s Wayne Selden led his team with 22 points and two steals in 35 minutes of court time. Matt Costello hit a double-double of 20 points and 16 rebounds in 38 minutes of playing time for the Energy. Terry Whisnant added 14 points with eight boards in 32 minutes off the bench. The Energy turned the ball over a total of 19 times that Canton turned into 17 points.
The Canton Charge are part of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Quicken Loans Arena organization and also owned by a group led by Cavaliers Majority Owner and Quicken Loans Founder and Chairman Dan Gilbert. The group also owns and operates the Cleveland Gladiators of the Arena Football League and the Cleveland Monsters of the American Hockey League, both of which play their games at Quicken Loans Arena in downtown Cleveland.