Canton Charge start slow but manage a strong finish in win against Rio Grande Vipers
It took over three quarters of very physical play before the Canton Charge (8-3) was able to figure out a defense against a fine tuned Rio Grande Valley Vipers (2-10) as the final score was posted 116-109 in favor of the home team. The contest took place on Thursday evening, December 5, 2019 at the Canton Memorial Civic Center.
High scorer for Canton was Dean Wade who earned his second double-double of the season with 24 points, 10 boards and four assists in 35 minutes. Dylan Windler made his pro debut being on assignment from the Cleveland Cavaliers playing 18 minutes while scoring 8 poiints on 3-of-6 shooting while grabbing four rebounds. Sheldon Mac flew off the bench to score 19 points with three steals in 25 minutes and crowd favorite J.P. Macura added 17 points to the total. Rounding out the night were Dir ‘Dominic Pointer and malik Newman with each player hitting for 11 points.
Canton spent most of the first half losing the battle of the turnover giving up the ball 16 times that resulted in 29 points for the Vipers thus the score at the half was 65-49 in favor of the visitors.
It was after the break that the Charge came alive with a 17-2 run in jst four and a half minutes with Macura hitting three three pointers followed by Windler with a putback that gave Canton their first lead of the evening at the 4:58 mark.
Rio Grande held tough and at the start of the fourth quarter held a thin two point lead of 87-85. Canton was not done or the night as Levi Randolph hit the go-ahead basket with less than six minutes to play. This proved to be the deal maker as Mac became the leadig Canton scorer in the fourth quarter with 10 points in 4-for-5 shooting.
The Rio Grande Vipers’ Ray Spalding earned a double-double with 30 points and 13 rebounds in 32 minutes on the boards. Former Cavs and Charge forward Jaron Blossongame posted 19 points and seven re bounds in 36 minutes. Jacobi Boykins added 17 points coming off the bench.
Canton hits the road for a meeting with the Capital City Go-Go in Washington D.C. this coming Saturday, December 7, 2019 with tip-off at 7 p.m.
The Canton Charge is part of the Cleveland Cavaliers organization and is also owned by a group led by Cavaliers Chairman and Quicken Loans Founder and Chairman Dan Gilbert. The group also owns and operates the Cleveland Monsters of the American Hockey League, who play their games at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in downtown Cleveland.