Canyon Hands Hart Its First Loss in Foothill League With Late Rally

Foothill League coaches for the most part have conceded that Hart will win the championship. However, the race for No. 2 is still very much on, and the teams that manage to defeat Hart will do a lot to help themselves to the runner-up position.

“I said that the teams that can beat Hart will do a lot to emerge from the pack,” said Canyon Coach Greg Hayes, whose Cowboys emerged with a tough 65-61 road victory over the Indians Tuesday night. “We made the plays, grabbed the rebounds and made the passes to win.

“This helps a lot.”

Canyon improved to 11-10 overall and 4-4 in league play. The Cowboys entered the game in a three-way tie for second in the league with Burbank and Burroughs.

Hart--ranked fifth in The Times’ regional poll--fell to 14-6, 7-1. In addition to suffering their first league loss, the Indians had a 12-game winning streak come to an end.

Canyon was led by the backcourt tandem of sophomore Greg Minor (19 points) and junior Charles Woodard (17 points). After Hart took a 58-54 lead on a shot by forward Matt Steffe with 3 minutes 30 seconds remaining in the game, Minor scored on a driving layup to put the Cowboys ahead, 59-58.

Steffe, who led Hart with 19 points, 12 rebounds and four blocked shots, put Hart ahead for the final time, 60-59, by answering Minor with two free throws when 2:05 remained.

Hart then missed several opportunities to either tie the game or take the lead down the stretch. The most egregious miscue came with 50 seconds to play when junior center Cody Patterson blew an open layup. With Canyon leading, 63-61, Steffe missed a baseline shot with six seconds left. Woodard was then fouled and connected on two free throws.

Senior forward David Sanders scored 17 points for the Indians and senior guard Brandon Moore added 14.