TORONTO — A better start led to a better result for the Toronto boys basketball team.

Toronto led rival Catholic Central by two points early in the second quarter, however, the rest of the game belonged to the Red Knights as Toronto pulled away for a 57-26 victory Tuesday night inside the George J. Kunzler Memorial Gymnasium.

Toronto limited Catholic Central to single digits in all four quarters.

“Our defense really stepped up,” Toronto (8-4) head coach Sean Tucker said. “I can’t say enough about well we played defensively. We came to play today.

“We did a good job on defense to hold them to what we did in the first half. We rotated, we did a great job of getting after it, we talked and we played together. That is why we were able to do what we did in the first half.

“Offensively, we took care of the basketball. We played with a lot of energy. When we hit those first two shots early in the first eyes, you could see their eyes relax.”

Offensively, the Red Knights reached double digits in all four quarters.

The Crusaders struggled on the offensive end from start to finish.

“Give credit to Toronto,” Catholic Central (6-6) head coach Don Ogden said. “They played well. They played hard. We just could not get any good shots. When we did get good shots, they weren’t going in.”

Three players produced double digits in points for Toronto with another scoring nine. Individually, Kam Baker recorded a game-high 18 points, Cayden Benton contributed 11 and Noah Karaffa finished with 10. Also, Nolan Dickinson delivered nine.

“We have talked about our bench guys and how we needed to get minutes and energy out of them,” Tucker said. “It doesn’t matter if they get in for a couple of seconds or for a couple of minutes. We had a lot of guys play at a high level. They played at the level we needed them to play at.

“Early on, we were in foul trouble. Three of our starters had two fouls, so guys on our bench saw a lot of time. They stepped up and did a real good job.”

Benji Rook collected a team-high 12 points to lead the way for Catholic Central, while Tommy Pergi tallied four.

Karaffa scored the first four points of the game, and the hosts ended up taking a 12-7 lead at the end of the first.

It was a different quarter and game from the first meeting between the two Jefferson County schools. In the first meeting, the Crusaders raced out to a 20-4 lead at the end of the first on their way to a 62-46 victory in the first game of the season Nov. 30 inside the Mickey Barber Gymnasium. The Red Knights went 0-for-13 from the floor in the first in that game.

“We started out 0-13 in the first game, and we dug ourselves a hole,” Tucker said. “They are a really good team. They have veteran players. They are really well coached.

“We were fortunate to play the way we did. We were able to disrupt what they were trying to do, and we were able to come away with the win.”

The hosts led 27-14 at halftime in the second meeting, and increased their advantage to 42-19 at the end of the third.

“They came out and played aggressive on defense,” Tucker said. “They are a very good defensive team, and they are a very good offensive team.

“The last time we played them, they outrebounded us on the defensive boards. They had 30 defensive rebounds. The biggest thing tonight was we told them that when a shot went up to go and get it. We wanted to go after the ball and get the rebound, and we did an excellent job of that. When a shot went up, we had four or five guys going to get the rebound.

“We did what we needed to do. We rebounded the ball. We played with energy. We are an energy team like they are. The game was going to come down to which team could carry over that energy the longest.”

Toronto outscored the visitors, 15-7, in the fourth.

“I thought they ran their offense well,” Ogden said. “They did a good job defensively as well. I’m going to have to wait and see how many unforced turnovers we had.”

The victory snaps Toronto’s three-game losing streak.

“That was a great win,” Tucker said. “That was a great win. That was a great win for our program and for our kids. Our kids needed that one tonight.

“We have battle hard against good competition in our last four games, and that paid off tonight for our kids.”

Toronto is scheduled to play county rival Buckeye Local Friday night at home. The JV game will start at 6 p.m.

Catholic Central is slated to play Southern Local Saturday at home. The JV game is set to start at 4 p.m.

Toronto 57, Catholic Central 26

Catholic Central 7 7 5 7 – 26

Toronto 12 15 15 15 – 57

CATHOLIC CENTRAL (6-6): Long 1 0-0 2, Rook 3 3-4 12, Bier 0 0-0 0, Sollom 0 0-0 0, Mihalyo 0 0-0 0, Sprochi 0 0-0 0, Bolster 1 0-0 3, Bryan 0 0-0 0, Pergi 2 0-0 4, Rohde 1 0-4 2, Bradley 1 1-2 3, Hickey 0 0-0 0, Owen 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 9 4-10 26.

TORONTO (8-4): Filby 2 0-0 4, N. Dickinson 3 0-0 9, Karaffa 5 0-2 10, Baker 7 1-1 18, Winters 0 0-0 0, Buchanan 1 0-0 2, Fair 0 1-2 1, Ensell 0 0-0 0, Grimes 1 0-0 2, R. Dickinson 0 0-0 0, Heckathron 0 0-0 0, Benton 5 1-3 11. TOTALS: 24 3-8 57.

3-POINTERS: Catholic Central 4 (Rook 3, Bolster); Toronto 6 (N. Dickinson 3, Baker 3)