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Toronto upends Shenendoah

TORONTO — Toronto could not put pesky Shenandoah away.

The eighth-seeded Zeps proved to be at thorn in the side of the third-seeded Red Knights all night long as the boys from Noble County answered every mini run by the boys from Jefferson County with one of their own.

Finally, the Red Knights — sparked by an 11-3 run in the fourth quarter — were able to gain some much-needed breathing room before holding on for a 63-58 victory Tuesday night at home inside the George Kunzler Gymnasium in an Ohio Division IV Eastern District first-round game.

“We did not want to play,” first-year Toronto (19-4) head coach Sean Tucker said. “We did not run our offense well. We did not shoot the ball well. We got away from our game plan offensively. The good thing is at this time of the year you survive and advance, and we survived and advanced.

“They would not go away. Give Shenandoah credit. They did not go away because of their ability to finish at the rim.

“We were not able to finish at the rim. We missed layup after layup. We missed bunnies. We missed shot after shot. We will get back in the gym tomorrow.

“The good thing is we have more time with these seniors. We are not ready for it to end yet. We are going to get back into the gym, and we are going to work on our shots. We are going to work on our shots for two hours.”

The Zeps loss was somewhat self-inflicted as Shenandoah missed four foul shots — three on and-1 attempts and one on a front end of a 1-and-1 — as well as having a couple costly turnovers in the final minutes of the game when the Green and White were well within striking distance.

“That is not who we are,” first-year Shenandoah (9-14) head coach Marc Smith said about his team’s refusal to give up during the game. “This program has come a long way this year. It is not even funny. From our first practice in June until now, we have really come a long way. We played a really good basketball team down to the wire. We were one play away half a dozen times. Give them credit. They made more plays than we did down the stretch.

“This program is headed in a very good direction. We play a lot of young guys. We won four games last year, and we won three games in the last three years. We doubled our win total this season.

“The last game is always tough. The year flies by. Careers fly by. Our kids are understanding how to compete at a high level.”

With the win, Toronto will now play No. 7 seed Tuscarawas Central Catholic in the district quarterfinals at 7 p.m. Friday at home. The Saints did not play in the first round of the tournament.

“Tusky Central is a very-good ballclub,” Tucker said. “They are one of the best defensive teams we will see all year. We have to be ready to play. We have to be ready to play in all phases. If we don’t, it is going to be a long night.”

Five players scored in the game for the hosts – two of whom reached double digits. Individually, Nate Karaffa finished with a game-high 27 points, while Jake Keenan collected 13 points.

Six players scored in the game for the visitors — two of whom also reached double figures. Individually, Nick Miller tallied a team-high 16 points, while James Fogle produced 10 points.

The victors led by two points entering the fourth quarter, but the boys in white pushed their advantage to seven points — 46-39 — before the boys in green battled back and pulled to within 46-45 on a 3-pointer from the corner by Clint Wikander with 4:37 still showing on the scoreboard clock.

Then, the Red and White responded with their 11-3 spurt to build a game-high nine-point advantage — 57-48 — with 2:24 remaining to be played. Keenan keyed the run with a 3-pointer and a pair of foul shots.

The Zeps refused to go away quietly into the night, but they were hurt by their inability to make foul shots. Shenandoah got as close as five points the rest of the way, but they were never able to get over the hump.

Shenandoah shot 7 of 16 from the free-throw line in the game, while Toronto converted 14 of 20 shots from the charity stripe.

“That is one of those skill things I was talking about,” Smith said. “We shot 61 percent on free throws this year. Most of the year, we were in the 50s. It is skill things like ball-handling from top to bottom, passing and catching, making free throws and having the ability to finish under pressure. Those are the skill things we are going to be working on.

“This program has had four head coaches in four years. It is hard to have continuity when you have that. We have that now. We are going to fundamentally improve to go along with the heart, the effort and the tenacity we play with.”

The Red Knights led by six points entering the third quarter, but the Zeps got off to a fast start in the quarter to keep the game close. Shenandoah took just its second lead of the game when Miller drained a 3-pointer to put his team out in front, 37-36 with 44.2 seconds on the clock, but Karaffa answered immediately with a 3-pointer of his own to give his team a 39-27 lead entering the fourth quarter.

“We got out of our comfort zone tonight,” Tucker said. “When everyone plays within themselves, we are an excellent ballclub, and we are fun to watch. When we do things that are not within our comfort zone, we do not execute well. The thing is, we have time to work on it. We are going to work on it as a group. It is a group thing and not an individual thing. It is a team thing. We are going to focus on it as coaches all the way down to the freshmen.”

After Toronto opened the scoring in the game, Shenandoah scored the next four points to give the Zeps their biggest lead of the night at two points. The Red Knights fought back and led 11-8 at the end of the quarter.

The winners extended their advantage to seven points in the second quarter on a basket by Karaffa to make the score 22-15. Karaffa capped the scoring in the first half with a three-point play with 16.2 seconds remaining to be played before halftime to give Toronto a 26-20 lead at the break.

The 19 wins are the most a Toronto team has had in many years.

“I think we won 20 games in 1938,” Tucker said. “That is something we are going to look at once the season is over and not now. We want to keep on playing.”

Toronto 63, Shenendoah 58

Shenandoah 8 12 17 21 – 58

Toronto 11 15 13 24 – 63

Shenandoah (9-14): Fogle 5 0-1 10, Jones 2 2-4 6, Sherman 3 0-0 8, Wikander 3 2-3 9, Clark 0 0-0 0, Brown 3 3-7 9, Miller 6 0-1 16. TOTALS: 17 7-16 58. 3-Pointers: Sherman 2, Miller 2, Wikander.

Toronto (19-4): Tr. West 0 0-0 0, Karaffa 9 5-8 27, Ty West 2 2-2 6, Gulczynski 4 1-2 9, Carducci 0 0-0 0, Keenan 4 4-6 13, Sninchak 3 2-2 8. TOTALS: 22 14-20 63. 3-Pointers: Karaffa 4, Keenan.

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