UP THE FLOOR — Toronto’s Austin Buchanan brings the ball up the court past Buckeye Trail’s Sammy Brown during Friday’s tournament game. - Andrew Grimm

TORONTO – After a hot streak to open the game, the Toronto boys’ basketball team went cold against Buckeye Trail at the worst possible time.

Toronto – the No. 2 seed – netted 16 points in a little more than five minutes to start the game before going scoreless the rest of the first half as the Red Knights saw their nine-point advantage turn into a five-point deficit at halftime.

The shots continued to not fall of the Red Knights in the second half as the fifth-seeded Warriors outscored the boys from the Gem City, 50-15, in the final 26:58 of the game en route to a 57-31 victory in front of a packed house in an Ohio Division VI Eastern District Sectional Co-Final Friday night inside the George J. Kunzler Memorial Gymnasium.

“Buckeye Trail is a really good team,” Toronto (19-4) head coach Sean Tucker said. “They shoot the ball really well. We went into halftime down 21-16 after scoring 16 points in the first quarter and not scoring in the second. We had a lot of good looks. We just didn’t make them. We were concerned going into the game about taking unforced shots, taking not really good shots and not taking patient shots.

“They are very long and wide. In the third quarter, they jumped on us. We had a bunch of turnovers and things just snowballed. They outscored us 23-9 in the third. We didn’t play like ourselves.

“Our seniors are great young men on and off the court. They are great leaders. They are role models.

“We got to play at home. We had a great crowd tonight. It was a great atmosphere. It was a great atmosphere for a high school basketball game. We just did not feed off the energy. A lot of it was we just didn’t make shots. We did not make shots from the outside.

“They are very long. They were in a 2-3 zone, and they extended it out. We had to shoot the ball well. We worked on shooting all week at practice. We needed to have some guys step up and knock down shots in certain situations. We had shots rim out a few times. They rolled around the rim and bounced out. The ball just didn’t bounce our way. That happens.

“Our kids are not going to be judge by this one game. Our program is not going to be judge by this one game. Our coaching staff if not going to be judged by this one game. We did a lot of great things this season that a lot of other programs weren’t able to do.

“It just wasn’t our night. They were the better team tonight. They executed their shots better.

They hit their shots. It was just a bad night. That is what it comes down to. We knew coming in it was going to come down to executed their shots, us or them. In the first quarter, we shot the ball well, and then we had some turnovers that led to some runouts. They had a 5-0 run at the end of the first quarter. Instead of being up 16-11, we were losing 17-16. That took a lot of spark out of us. We had a bad 1:30 there in the first, and it was downhill from there. It took the momentum away from us, and we weren’t able to get it back.”

A 3-pointer gave the Red-and-White a 16-7 lead with 2:58 left in the first, however, the Blue-and-White tallied the final 10 points of the quarter to take a 17-16 lead into the second. Toronto made four 3-pointers in the first, however, the Red Knights only made one shot from beyond the arc the rest of the game.

“We wanted to try and draw him (Elian Arick) out,” Tucker said about shooting 3s to offset Buckeye Trail’s height advantage inside. “He was protecting the rim. He’s 6-11. If you shoot a shot and miss, he is going to get the rebound. You are not going to outrebound him. They were in the zone, and we wanted to get him to the foul line, and we wanted to get downhill. We wanted to get downhill as much as possible. We wanted to pull him out. We were able to do that in the fourth quarter, and we started to score. We started to score at the end of the third quarter and into the start of the fourth.

“In the fourth, the game got out of hand and you look up at the scoreboard and you see it on the guys’ faces. In a typical game when if it gets out of hand, you pull your guys out and brings guys in off the bench, but these guys started it together, and we wanted to let them finish it together, so we left our five seniors on the floor. They started this. They brought a lot of pride back to the program, so we wanted to keep those guys on the floor. They can hold their heads up high. I am proud to be their coach. I am proud to lead this team. I am super proud of all of them.”

The hosts did not score a point in the second, however, they did play well on the defensive end as the boys from Guernsey County were only able to muster four points in the quarter to take a their five-point lead into halftime.

“To go into the locker room against a team like Buckeye Trail being down by five points after holding them to four points in the second quarter and not scoring in the quarter says a lot our kids and our defense,” Tucker said. “We played well on defense. We did a good job, but our defense did not lead to offense. That is something we pride ourselves on. That is something we feed off of. We did not get a lot of transition points. We missed a lot of bunnies. We missed shots. We didn’t get points off steals and things like that.

“We were able to play a tournament game at home against a great team. It just wasn’t our night. These kids have a lot to be proud of. These parents have a lot to be proud of. This town has a lot to be proud of. This school has a lot to be proud of. They represented themselves and the school very well. Just look at the crowd that came out to support them. We are not going to let these 32 minutes tarnish what they accomplished this year.”

Unfortunately for Toronto, the visitors started rolling in the third as they outscored the Red Knights, 23-9, in the quarter to take a 44-25 lead into the fourth. Toronto’s scoring drought came to an end with a foul shot with 7:06 left in the quarter, and their field goal drought came to an end with a 3-pointer with 5:43 left in the quarter to pull within 27-20, however, the boys in blue took control from that point.

The victors outscored the boys from Jefferson County, 13-6, in the fourth to account for the final score.

Offensively for Toronto, Brady Fair finished with a team-high 12 points to lead the way, Austin Buchanan contributed eight and Colt Joynson netted six.

For Buckeye Trail, Chris Loudin collected a game-high 16 points, Easton Rominger recorded 14 and Kyer Eagon and Arick both collected 10 points. Arick – the team’s big guy inside – had two dunks and multiple blocked shots in the game.

The game was the final one for Toronto’s six seniors – Wyatt Anderson, Michael Henry, Landon Grimes, Brody Winters, Fair and Buchanan.

“We said in the locker room to not let this 32 minutes define you,” Tucker said. “We were going to have practice at 10 a.m. tomorrow morning. They are going to wakeup tomorrow, and there is not going to be practice. There is going to be a hole there. They are going to be upset. You are when you come to the end of the road. It was the same thing as football. They had a great season. When the season came to an end, they took a couple of days off to reminisce. When you are a senior, the clock is ticking until your senior is over. There will be no more bus rides. Everything will be all over.

“We shot the ball well all year, we got to play a postseason game at home, but it just wasn’t our night. We did not shoot the ball well. I wish it was a meaningless game during the season, but it wasn’t.

“I have been doing this for a long time. Everybody should be super proud of these kids. The kids should be super proud of what they have done. They have done more than any other team in my 10 years. I am proud of these guys. I am super proud to be there coach.”

With the win, the Warriors advanced to the district semifinals at 7 p.m. Tuesday night.

Buckeye Trail 57, Toronto 31

Buckeye Trail 17 4 23 13 – 57

Toronto 16 0 9 6 – 31

BUCKEYE TRAIL (19-3): Brown 1 0-0 2, Loudin 7 0-0 16, Carpenter 0 0-0 0, T. Hastings 0 0-0 0, Harrell 0 0-0 0, Rominger 6 0-0 14, C. Eagon 1 0-0 2, C. Hastings 0 1-2 1, Arick 5 0-0 10, K. Eagon 4 0-0 10, Haybig 0 0-0 0, Johnson 1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 25 1-2 57.

TORONTO (19-4): Grimes 0 0-0 0, Joynson 1 4-6 6, Winters 1 0-0 3, Buchanan 3 0-0 8, Fair 5 0-0 12, Henry 0 0-0 0, Rebich 1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 11 4-6 31.

3-POINTERS: Buckeye Trail 6 (Loudin 2, Rominger 2, K. Eagon 2); Toronto 5 (Buchanan 2, Fair 2, Winters)