GUARDED — Toronto’s Anthony Myslinsky is guarded by Madonna’s Lucky Pulice during Friday’s game. Also shown are Toronto’s Bryson Anderson and Madonna’s Matt Amaismeier and Josh Gasvoda. - Andrew Grimm

WEIRTON — Toronto broke a tight game open in the fourth quarter and registered a 61-49 win over Madonna Friday night inside the Dube Dome.

The Red Knights seemed like they couldn’t miss from three point land canning 10 treys in the game. Point guard Brennan Matyas drained one of his four three-pointers to break a 35-35 tie and send the Red Knights into the fourth quarter with a three-point lead. That ignited a 10-2 run into the start of the fourth quarter and Toronto was able to pull away late in the game.

“I think the reason the game was so close through the first three quarters was the changing defenses used by coach (George) Vargo,” said veteran Toronto coach, Sean Tucker, whose club now is 8-10. “They finally switched from the zone to a man offense and we really didn’t do a good job of getting into our man-to-man defense. We weren’t being patient enough to let it flow.

“Somebody always steps up for us on any different day. Tonight Jay Hanlin stepped up. He can shoot the basketball. I keep yellling at him to shoot the basketball and tonight he stepped up. We got hot in the fourth quarter and he started it with a three-point shot. I couldn’t be more proud of him tonight with four threes. And Brennan Matyas put one down with about three minutes left in the fourth quarter and stepped to the foul line making three of four down the stretch.”

Matyas finished with 22 points including four treys. Hanlin added a free throw to his four from behind the arc for 13 points and A. J. Clegg also scored in double figures with 10.

“I got some good looks thanks to my point guard Brennan Matyas,” Hanlin said after the game. “He provides the senior leadership and so does A. J. Clegg. He forced some turnovers and we fed off of that.”

Matyas said after the game that he has been watching Hanlin in practice this week and felt he was ready to step up.

“He finally found his three and I’ve been waiting for him to finally come out,” he said. “I knew he had it in him. It finally showed up today and I couldn’t be more proud of him. But it was a team effort tonight. We all contribued.”

Vargo said he felt his team fell victim to a hot shooting team.

“Coach Tucker’s boys came into our place and shot the lights out tonight,” said Vargo. “They had five threes in the first quarter alone. As the game goes on their legs are supposed to get tired, but they just kept on draining them. We played hard at times, but probably only about three minutes of that game did we play smart. The Toronto Red Knights played smart and their defense stepped up and put pressure on us.”

Toronto had trouble keeping Madonna’s Lucky Pulice and Brennan Secrist from scoring. They had 20 and 15 points, respectively. Pulice was really crashing the boards throughout the game. He finished with 13 rebounds and seven of them were off the offensive glass.

GAME NOTES

≤ Madonna’s three seniors, Brennan Secrist, Evan Boniti and Josh Gasvoda were honored prior to the game.

≤ The Madonna reserves salvaged a split for the night with a 57-33 win. Evan Quering led the way for the Blue Dons with 12 points. Austin Vantilburg scored 9 for the Red Knights.

UP NEXT

Vargo said his 8-7 team, with a still has a chance to make it into the OVAC Class 1A final four, but they have to have a win at Cameron Tuesday to do it. He said a win should put them with the No. 2 seed, but a loss would drop them all the way to No. 5.

Tucker’s crew also plays Tuesday at Indian Creek.

Toronto 61, Madonna 49

Toronto 18 12 8 23 61

Madonna 13 16 6 14 49

TORONTO (8-10): Hanlin 4 1-2 13; Reeves 2 3-4 7; Matyas 6 6-8 22; Myslinsky 2 3-6 9; Clegg 4 2-2 10. TOTALS: 18 15-22 61. 3-pointers: 10 (Hanlin 4, Matyas 4, Myslinsky 2); Rebounds 15 (Reeves 5); Turnovers 9.

MADONNA (8-7): Secrist 7 1-2 15; Sessi 1 2-2 5; Boniti 2 0-0 5; Dietrich 1 0-0 2; Amaismeier 0 2-2 2; Pulice 8 4-6 20. TOTALS 19 9-12 49. 3-pointers: Sessi, Boniti; Rebounds 29 (Pulice 13); Turnovers 17.