By PAUL GOTHAM
IRONDEQUOIT, N.Y. — Chris Cardon’s basketball teams have been known for their stingy defense through the years.
Getting in passing lanes and challenging shots, Cardon’s Irondequoit Eagles have frustrated opponents from possession to possession.
And on Thursday night when others gathered around to celebrate his reaching of a milestone, the long-time Irondequoit High School coach played it like the opponent had the ball. Instead of accepting praise, he deflected it.
“This is a shared night,” he said after Irondequoit defeated Wayne 55-43.
The victory was the 500th of Cardon’s 37-year career.
“When you’re around this long, you can’t do this by yourself. I want to share this with the players, the coaches, the administration, the parents, everybody.”
Anyone who knows Cardon, expected nothing less.
Frequently self-effacing, the New York State Hall-of-Fame member has always recognized his role as no more important than everybody else in the Irondequoit program.
“It’s just a tribute to all the players that I’ve coached, all the coaches that have been in our program, the school, the supportive administration and the supportive community,” he said. “It’s a collective achievement. I just happened to be there for the ride. I just happen to be the guy sitting on the bench.”
While there has long been a chair on the Irondequoit bench reserved for Cardon, rarely can one find him sitting in it during the game. Guiding the action from his spot near the court, Cardon now shares that sideline with head coaches who played against him during their high school careers.
Tim Miller and Dave Tisa both teammates at Greece Athena during the mid-90s now match Xs and Os with Cardon as head coaches at Churchville-Chili and Brighton. Same as well for Griffin Coles (Webster Thomas) who played for Webster in the 90s. There is also Scott Fitch (Fairport), Troy Prince (Hilton) and Joe Tisa (Greece Olympia) current coaches who first faced Cardon during their playing days. Rashaad Stokelin, who played for Cardon, now coaches Webster Schroeder.
Time, though, hasn’t softened Cardon’s competitive drive.
“The more I coach, for me the losing crushes you. It just crushes you. The winning is good and you move on, but the losing becomes tougher. The losses become tougher especially if the team hasn’t played well.”
Ryan Heath made sure Cardon enjoyed his time Thursday night.
The junior guard scored the final eight points of the game as the Eagles pulled away for their third straight win.
Xavier Gissendanner’s floater in the lane early in the second quarter gave Irondequoit a lead it did not surrender at 11-10.
But the Eagles never put away Wayne.
Back-to-back 3-pointers from Devon Forrest and Cam Blankenberg made it two-point game at 43-41 with 4:22 remaining. Mason Blankenberg scored in the paint to keep it a one-possession game at 46-43.
“We wanted to play the spoiler,” said Wayne head coach Bill Thomson who fittingly played on an AAU team coached by Cardon in the mid-80s. “I wanted him to get that win, just on another night.”
Charles Barnes converted one of two free throws and Heath continued from there as Irondequoit closed the game on a 9-0 run.
Heath finished with a game-high 20 points. Gissendanner added 15. Evan Leonardo had eight points including a 3-pointer coming out of a timeout to give Irondequoit a 46-41 advantage.
Damon Brumfield (5), Kenyen Lovett (2) and Quinn VanKerkhove (2) also scored for Irondequoit.
Mason Blankenberg paced the Wayne (13-7) offense with 16 points. Forrest added 12. PJ Ostrowski scored seven and Cam Blankenberg had six. Sean Nellis contributed two points.
Cardon joins Notre Dame-Batavia’s Mike Rapone (724 wins), Ed Nietopski (545 wins at Cardinal Mooney/Bishop Kearney), Roger Rigby (527 – Scio) and Jim Burke (517 – Prattsbugh) as the only Section V coaches to win 500 or more games. Nietopski, Rigby and Burke have all retired. Rapone is retiring at the end of this season.
“This won’t be my last regular season game,” Cardon stated. “The end is near, but it’s not now.”
With Thursday’s win, Irondequoit improved its record to 14 wins and 6 losses – the 10th straight winning season under Cardon. The recent stretch includes two of the Eagles’ three sectional titles with Cardon at the helm as well as the 2016-17 team that won the New York State Class A title.
Next week, Cardon’s Eagles will look to make another sectional run.
“I’ve been blessed with a lot of good things,” he said. “I’m hoping over the next couple of weeks that we can put things together.”
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