Charge Takes: Swanigan, Thornton shine in win

CANTON -- Random notes and thoughts from the Canton Charge's 102-97 win over visiting Raptors 905 on Wednesday afternoon.

1. Wednesday marked the start of the second half of the season for the Canton Charge. The Charge finished the first half in last place in the Central Division.

2. But with Wednesday's win, the Charge improved to 10-16 (and 3-9 at the Canton Memorial Civic Center).

3. Charge coach Nate Reinking on the struggles at home: “You have to protect the house first. We’ve been great on the road.”

4. Reinking is correct, as seven of Canton's victories have come on the road. But the struggles at home have to improve if Canton hopes to get back into the playoff picture.

5. The game was dubbed "School Day" for the Charge, so most of the 2,462 in attendance were kids from local schools.

6. Cleveland Cavaliers two-way swingman John Holland returned to action Wednesday after missing the last 12 games with a left shoulder injury.

7. Holland picked up right where he left off as he had 16 points on 5-of-12 shooting

8. As excited as Charge fans were to have Holland back … no one was more excited to be back than Holland himself. “Honestly makes me appreciate being out there," he said. "Not that I didn’t before. But even more now. Even in practice, I’m like this is so much fun. There’s nothing really I’d rather be doing.”

9. While Holland deserves plenty of praise, two other guys won this game for Canton.

10. The first player was rookie forward Caleb Swanigan. While Swanigan is an assignee from Portland Trail Blazers, he has been a great piece to have in Canton.

11. Swanigan had 16 of his 18 points in the first half -- all of which were scored in the second quarter.

12. While Canton won the game it was puzzling to see the Charge go away from Swanigan in the second half. It appeared the Raptors 905 did not really have answer for him.

13. The man the Charge leaned on in the second half was guard Marcus Thornton, who cored 20 of his 27 points in the final 24 minutes.

14. Thornton had a key stretch in the middle of the fourth quarter where he hit three straight 3-pointers. This run was punctuated when he was fouled on his final three and converted the free throw for the four-point play.

15. Thornton's four-point play was the final made field goal for the Charge, as they finished the rest of the game from the free-throw line. The Charge went 8-of-12 from the charity stripe down the stretch.

16. Canton travels to Erie to take on the Bayhawks on Friday night, before returning back to Canton an 8 p.m. tip vs. the Sioux Falls Skyforce on Saturday.