WATCHING IT GO IN — Indian Creek’s Nickey Eddy watches his shot fall through the hoop in front of Toronto’s Aiden Filby, Austin Buchanan and Colt Joynson and Creek’s Mason Lester during Tuesday’s game on Coach D Court. - Andrew Grimm

WINTERSVILLE — Don’t look now, but Indian Creek is on a roll.

Coach Joe Dunlevy’s Redskins earned their fourth win in their last five games Tuesday night at home on Coach D Court, fending off a rally from visiting Toronto for a 51-47 victory.

Creek led by as many as 11 points in the third quarter before the Red Knights rallied to within one in the fourth , but the lead never got away.

“There’s no two teams around that know each other better than Toronto and Indian Creek,” Dunlevy said. “It makes points at a premium, it’s hard to score. Both teams play each other really hard and they are really well-coached, Sean (Tucker) has built a heck of a program up there.

“We were very fortunate to beat them.”

In addition to winning four out of five, the win moved Creek to 7-11 on the season after starting 0-6. It also gives the Redskins a season sweep of the Red Knights as they also won a close contest in Toronto last month.

“These guys are learning and accepting roles, playing positions they never played before … it doesn’t come together overnight, but these kids have been working really hard and getting better, learning their roles,” Dunlevy said. “We keep creeping up the (MaxPreps RPI) standings, we’re probably going to finish fifth in the OVAC. We’ve come a long way since the start but we’ve got more work to do and we’re going to keep working.”

Despite falling behind by double digits, Toronto (14-5) had a couple of looks to potentially take the lead in the fourth quarter. Down three in the final minute, a 3-point try to tie the game didn’t fall for the Knights.

“We fought back, but we had a lack of execution,” Toronto head coach Sean Tucker said. “That’s the disappointing part, we go over things repeatedly in practice … and we didn’t execute. I don’t know why we didn’t execute, but that’s on me and how I’ve got to prepare them. We called a play out of a timeout and it took two tries to get the open look. Out of a timeout you have to be able to execute.

“We did have a very good look at it, a good shot (to tie it), it just didn’t go in.”

The game coming down to the wire was not a surprise to either coach.

“We know what we’re getting into when we come down here,” Tucker, who played for Dunlevy in his own playing days, said. “They’re a very disciplined team and they do what they’re told. They’re playing really well right now. Any time we play each other we get each other’s best. It was a heck of a game, a very exciting game, the fans got their money’s worth.

“I just don’t feel like we played to our potential offensively and that’s disappointing.”

The Redskins were led by 17 points from Caleb Bodo, who went 9 of 10 from the foul line. Mason Lester added 10 and Nickey Eddy nine for Creek.

The Red Knights got 17 from Austin Buchanan, while Landon Grimes netted 10 and Brady Fair nine.

UP NEXT

Toronto: Returns home to host Frontier on Friday night.

Indian Creek: Travels to Barnesville on Friday night for a second meeting in a week with the Shamrocks.

Indian Creek 51, Toronto 47

T 11-11-12-13 – 47

IC 13-15-11-12 – 51

TORONTO (14-5): Filby 3 0-0 6; Grimes 4 0-0 10; Buchanan 9 2-2 17; Fair 4 1-4 9; Dickinson 0 0-0 0; Joynson 1 3-4 5; Henry 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 19, 6-10; 47.

INDIAN CREEK (7-11): Bonecutter 1 0-0 2; Bodo 3 9-10; 17; Eddy 4 1-2 9; Lester 4 0-0 10; Shultz 3 1-1 7; McGrew 0 0-0 0; Saffle 0 0-0 0; Johnson 3 0-0 6. TOTALS: 18, 11-13; 51.

3-POINTERS: Toronto 3 (Grimes 2, Buchanan); Indian Creek 4 (Bodo 2, Lester 2).