Windy City Bulls can't recover against Canton |
Coming off an impressive win against Maine over the weekend, the Windy City Bulls were faced with another tough task as they looked to knock off the charge at home. Unfortunately, things were out of sorts from the get-go as the Bulls trailed start to finish only to have their fourth-quarter surge come up short in the 105-101 defeat.
As mentioned, the charge not only led start to finish but put the Bulls in a 9-0 hole to start the game and 13-2-hole midway through the first, which proved to be way too much to recover from. Even with Simi Shittu and company helping rally the Bulls to close the gap to 23-17, the charge finished the quarter strong as J.P. Macura pushed the lead to 29-19 after one. The next two quarters were about as evenly played as you can get with the charge outscored the Bulls 59-58 over the second and third periods to lead by 11 heading into the fourth. It was in the fourth when Windy City began their comeback bid as they wouldn't go down without a fight. After Adam Mokoka scored the team's first bucket, Windy City went nearly five minutes without a point as Canton pushed their lead to 14. That is when Shittu and company began to change things as the Bulls began a ferocious rally over the final six minutes. Down by 12, Mokoka and Shittu started going inside as the lead was cut down to single digits. By getting inside, it opened space for outside shooters in which Milton Doyle made them pay, and just like that, we had a 103-100 game. Hoping for a key stop, the Bulls were unable to keep Canton off the line as they were able to make two free throws late to seal the Bulls comeback attempt 105-101. Shittu had a monster night for Windy City as he is certainly making a point that he deserves a two-way contract next year. Not only did he drop a game-high 32 points, but he also hauled in a career-high 21 rebounds for an impressive double-double. Mokoka continued to play well, adding 15 points as Jaron Blossomgame continues to struggle over his last five picking up 13 points in this one. Canton was led by Macura and his 29 points, all of which came off the bench as he proved to be the difference-maker in this one. Levi Randolph led the Charge starters with 18 points with Muhammad Abdur-Rahkman chipping in with 13. The loss guarantees the Bulls a losing record this season as they sit 17-26 with seven games to go.
