Campbell’s senior duo helps Red Devils romp Springfield

Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes Red Devils senior Josue Rodriguez drives and scores on the Tigers at home, he added 21 points in the win.
CAMPBELL — It may be frigid enough outdoors to cancel classes across the Mahoning Valley, but like their school’s mascot name suggests, Campbell Memorial has stayed blazing hot on the hardwood. A quick start and some consistent three point shooting helped lead the host Red Devils to a 65-42 victory over the visiting Springfield Tigers.
Campbell is now 12-3 on the year, including an unblemished 9-0 mark in MVAC play.
“We just want to pressure people. We want the games to be fast, I think some of these guys want it to be a little bit slower and we’re just trying to speed it up a little bit. We want to get as many possessions as we can,” Red Devils coach Nick Canterino said. “We think offensively, the first half showed we can be pretty dangerous. The second half, we couldn’t really hit any shots, but I’m definitely pleased to be sitting 9-0 in the league.
“We always pride ourselves on being a defensive team. We think if we speed people up and get some rebounds and make them turn the ball over, it just helps us get out in transition where we really do well.”
Campbell (12-3) took an early 21-12 edge following the first with the senior duo of Jared Colon and Josue Rodriguez making their presence known on the floor early on. Rodriguez drilled his first three shots for a quick 9 points, which set up a 21-point outing for the senior guard.
Colon, who Canterino describes as “shifty”, was able to earn buckets by driving downhill toward the basket, while netting a slew of threes himself. Colon tallied a season-best 25 points during the winning effort.
“Just playing hard and playing together, just focusing at practice to lead to these good games and good wins,” Colon said. “Coach just told me to just start inside and then from there it’s game over, things just start flowing. Just keep attacking and flow from there.
“When (Rodriguez) and I get started early, it’s just hard to contain us, and it’ll be a long night for the other team I think, it’s just hard to beat us if we’re both going early.”
In total, the Red Devils netted nine threes. They led 43-21 at halftime, before a bit of a lull saw the saw sitting at 51-30 heading into the fourth. Canterino sees a squad that continues to feast from the three point arc to complement their defensive attack.
“That’s every game with these guys, the best part about it is that they don’t stop shooting. Maybe that’s not the greatest thing, but we always think we’re going to make the next one, which is good for these guys. Confidence wise we always think we’re going to hit the next one. We’re really unselfish, we drive and see someone out there, we kick the ball out.” Canterino said.
Senior Christos Davis and Teyon Harris Jr. each added five points for Campbell. Springfield (7-8) was paced by senior Carson Cunningham’s 15 points. Senior Isaac LaMorticella and junior Landon Dyer added six points each.
“(Campbell’s) whole game is predicated on pressure, and they get the ball in tempo and they do a great job of shooting the basketball. They have a lot of guys that are threats from the three point line,” Tigers coach Jeff Brink said. “We needed to take better care of the ball early. Our goal is to keep the turnovers to a minimum, make sure we control the tempo, unfortunately we blew some assignments early and got behind the 8-ball.
“When they shoot the ball like that out of the gate you’re playing behind all night. It was a tough chore trying to dig out of that hole in the first half, that was a monumental task. They have some great players, they’re first place in the league for a reason.”