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TORONTO -- Catholic Central and Toronto could not have played more even during their boys basketball contest on Friday.
Both squads committed 15 turnovers apiece, sprinted to sizable fourth-quarter scoring runs and, overall, just matched up really well. Obviously, somebody had to win, and the Crusaders did just enough to escape the Gem City with a 40-36 victory.
"Our kids played hard, and I think the key was they didn't labor," Central head coach Don Ogden said. "They played with poise and kept plugging away until the final buzzer. I'm really proud of them for that.
"They grabbed a lot of loose balls that we were diving on the ground for. We've been striving to improve on that. I thought our transition defense was pretty good, and that's something we've emphasized for the past week and a half."
Catholic Central (2-1), despite struggling on offense in the first half, held a 14-8 halftime advantage before seeing it cut to 23-22 by the end of the third quarter.
"I think the first half is what cost us the game," Toronto head coach Sean Tucker said. "We worked really hard (Thursday) on attacking the 1-2-2 gaps and getting the defense to collapse. We didn't do that in the first half. And, when you only score eight points in any half of any basketball game, it's really, really hard to beat anybody."
The Red Knights (0-7), beginning with a few minutes left in the third, sprinted to a 12-3 scoring run that concluded with a little more than five minutes remaining in the game, leading 28-23.
Seemingly out of nowhere, CCHS then bolted on an 8-1 run to retake the lead, 31-29, with 3:07 left. Brant Reeves then hit a layup off of an assist from Noah Karaffa, tying the contest at 31-31 with three minutes remaining.
It was a back-and-forth affair from then on out.
Jay Hanlin gave Toronto the advantage again with a 3-pointer at the 2:10 mark, with Reeves collecting the assist. The Red Knights led, 34-31.
Shortly thereafter, Central's Vince Carapellotti grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back in to cut the deficit to one. Charles Miller then nailed a layup with 1:26 left, giving the Crusaders a 35-34 advantage.
Sixteen seconds later, Shane Keenan hit a close-range shot from Nathan Chociej, giving Toronto a one-point advantage again.
Carapellotti later hit a jumper from Miller. Toronto took two timeouts with 27 seconds left, trailing 37-36.
However, Hanlin stepped out of bounds following a wide pass. Miller was fouled twice, went to the free-throw line and sank both freebies.
"At the end of the game, it came down to execution, the Xs and Os. We didn't execute," Tucker said. "We were extremely concerned about turning the ball over and limiting those. Come late-game situations, we were opposite of what we did during practice. That didn't cost us the game, but that obviously gave them the ball back."
Down by three, the Red Knights needed a 3-pointer. They put the ball into the hands of Hanlin, who already sank three from beyond the arc. This time, with five seconds left, he failed to convert a long 3-point goal well behind the line.
The Crusaders grabbed the board, Toby Lesnefsky went to the charity stripe and nailed the first to put the nail in the coffin. He missed the second -- possibly on purpose -- and a half court 3 by Toronto sailed and ended the contest.
Miller led all scorers with 21 points. He also collected five rebounds and an assist. Carapellotti tallied eight points, seven boards and three dimes. Lesnefsky had eight points and three rebounds.
"What I liked about Charles (Friday) was he played pretty good defense, hit the boards and his shot selection, for the most part, was better than it has been in the first two games," Ogden said. "Before the game, we stressed to (Lesnefsky) that we couldn't let them get the ball inside. For the most part, he helped avoid them getting it inside to Keenan."
For the Red Knights, Hanlin led with 13 points and two boards. Bryson Anderson produced nine points and five rebounds. Keenan contributed six points and eight rebounds.
"For 32 minutes, I think my guys played the hardest and smartest they have all year," Tucker said. "We had a couple of mental breakdowns here and there, which are going to happen to anybody. We controlled our offense and were extremely good on the boards. We were close to almost averaging double-digit turnovers a quarter over the last couple of games.
"I was so darn proud of Karaffa (a freshman guard). He got the ball to the right people and executed on offense. Not only that, but he also brought another level to the game defensively. That sparked everybody."
LONG BREAK
Friday marked the Crusaders' first time playing in 11 days. Their contest last Friday against Edison was postponed due to COVID-related issues from the Wildcats.
"I think our kids were tired of practicing against one another. They wanted to play somebody," Ogden said. "They wanted to compete against somebody. Not having that experience and playing time under your belt, is that a factor? Maybe, but we were running practices pretty competitive. You go more than a week without playing, and it does become a little bit of a grind."
BAD BREAK
Toronto was without starter Anthony Myslinsky for the second straight game. He recently broke his wrist and is expected to miss at least one month.
"We're hoping to get him back, but that's at least four weeks he'll be sitting out," Tucker said. "It's hard to come back and be ready to go because of conditioning and all of that. We're praying that he gets healthy and can come back."
UP NEXT
Central: Tentatively travels to Indian Creek, who currently is quarantined, on Wednesday.
Toronto: Tentatively travels to Wellsville Tuesday.
Catholic Central 40, Toronto 36
Central 6 8 9 17 -- 40
Toronto 5 3 14 14 -- 36
CATHOLIC CENTRAL (2-1): Miller 8 4-6 21; Hough 1 0-0 2; Carapellotti 4 0-0 8; Gorman 0 1-2 1; Lesnefsky 3 1-2 8; Mullins 0 0-0 0; Dorsey 0 0-0 0; Venditti 0 0-0 0; Harris 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 16, 6-10: 40.
TORONTO (0-7): Chociej 1 0-0 3; Hanlin 3 4-5 13; Reeves 2 1-2 5; Anderson 3 3-4 9; Keenan 3 0-0 6; Matyas 0 0-0 0; Karaffa 0 0-0 0; Dickinson 0 0-0 0; Ellis 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 12, 8-11: 36.
3-POINT GOALS: Catholic Central 2 (Miller, Lesnefsky); Toronto 4 (Hanlin 4). REBOUNDS: Catholic Central 26 (Carapellotti 7); Toronto 25 (Keenan 8). ASSISTS: Catholic Central 8 (Carapellotti 3); Toronto 10 (Reeves 4). TURNOVERS: Catholic Central 15; Toronto 15.