Canton Charge blocks down the Erie BayHawks to win home opener

It wasn’t pretty but a win is a win. The Canton Charge (2-1) powered by the Cleveland Cavaliers held on to defeat Eastern Conference rivals Erie BayHawks (2-1) 116-112 at the Canton Memorial Civic Center on Saturday. This was the first opener win for the Charge since 2013.

The game started shaky for Canton as Erie shot out to a 9-zip lead with triple three pointers in the opening minutes. The Charge regrouped and slowly gained ground until taking over the lead for good. It was a surprisingly emotional game for this early in the season as both teams got physical under the basket. This year’s roster of Canton Charge players have seemed to jell very early as a team in spite of their short time together. It promises to be an exciting season.

Using a tight defense strategy, the Charge kept the BayHawks at bay with four highly dramatic blocks and eight crowd pleasing steals over the course of the game. This was in spite of Erie being able to hit time and time again from the three point arc. On offense, six Canton players registered double figures as Scoochie Smith led the team with 22 points, eight assists and four steals in 34 minutes.

JaCorey Williams flew off the Charge bench in a flurry of 6-of-9 shooting for 21 points with two blocks in 2 minutes and an added 9-of-13 from the free throw line as this particular game had more whistles than a bird sanctuary. Emanuel Terry went for nine points, 10 rebounds, two steals and two blocks in 25 minutes while Billy Preston hit for 11 points while grabbing seven rebounds in 21 minutes. Kobi Simmons scored 16 points in 36 minutes and rounding out the scoring was Bonzie Colson with 15points and two steals in 27 minutes.

The BayHawks fought the good fight with Terrence Jones leading the way with a game high 25 points and 10 rebounds, three steals, two blocks and nine turnovers in 33 minutes. R.J. Hunter netted 22 points, snatched seven rebounds and forced four steals in 37 minutes while Jaylen Adams joined the 20+ points club with 21 points on 7-of-13.

The Canton Charge have two more upcoming home games this next week with a Wednesday, November 14th match-up against the West Chester Knicks and a Friday, November 16th contest against the Long Island Nets. For tickets by phone you can call (866) 444-1944 or purchase online at www.cantoncharge.com.