CANTON — Devin Foster came as billed. And that spelled major trouble for Somerset Berkley Regional.
A senior and Canton's career scoring leader, Foster torched SBR for 29 points as the Bulldogs stormed past the Raiders 72-56 in the Division 2 South boys' basketball preliminary round on Monday at Canton High School.
In terminating Somerset Berkley's season, the 16th-seeded Bulldogs (14-9) opened a 28-point lead (71-43) with 3:21 to play.
Foster scored inside, outside, in the halfcourt and on the fast break. He had 26 points through three quarters. And he had help. When 17th-seeded SBR (10-11) managed to contain Foster, the Bulldogs found the open man and made their outside shots. They finished with eight 3-pointers.
"I thought they shot the ball very well," SBR head coach Bob Slater said. "We knew if they shot the ball well, we'd be in trouble, and they did. I don't think they missed a free throw until the fourth quarter. And I would say they were probably 60 percent from 3."
Canton made 10 of its first 11 free throws. SBR shot its free throws 1-for-7 through the first 28 minutes.
On trying to guard Foster, Slater said, "We really didn't have somebody for him. And if we went zone, you could see how they shoot. So we thought our best thing was to try to help out on him as much as possible. He's very smooth. He's a great player."
Senior guard Nick Medeiros (13 points) was SBR's top scorer. The Bulldogs kept close to Raider all-star Liam McDonald, throwing double-teams on the senior guard and limiting him to six points.
Somerset Berkley had its moments early. An Austin Macek 3, an Ethan Dias free throw, and another Macek basket produced a 6-0 run and an early 8-2 lead. A few minutes later, a Jake Meehan drive and a 16-footer by freshman Dias left SBR on top 12-6 with 2:03 left in the first quarter.
Canton then caught fire, hitting three 3-pointers in closing the quarter on a 13-0 run.
Down 38-27 at halftime,the Raiders were outscored 21-9 in the third quarter to fall back 59-36.
A Foster 3 started an 8-0 Canton run to start the fourth quarter.
"I thought our kids played hard," Slater said. "They did their best. Unfortunately, Canton was just better tonight."
Email Greg Sullivan at gsullivan@heraldnews.com. Follow him @GregSullivanHN.