Boys basketball: Keystone spreads the wealth, hammers Manchester in sectional opener

NEW FRANKLIN — It's a beautiful sight when playmakers do their thing. Keystone's Grant Hartley and Zach Shackelford set everyone else up all night, combining for 11 assists in Keystone's 67-51 win over Akron Manchester in a Division III, Northeast 1 sectional opener Tuesday. The 30th-seeded Wildcats (13-10) advances to play at second-seeded Labrae (20-2) in the sectional final Friday, while 20th-seeded Manchester finished the season at 10-12. "We definitely play a lot better when we're dishing the ball to each other," said Hartley, a senior who finished with 16 points, nine rebounds, six assists and four steals. "We've got to do that to stay in the game and stay focused at all time. It feels great to move on. I did not want this to be my last game, so it feels great to be moving on." The Wildcats got a balanced scoring effort as six of the seven players in the primary rotation scored at least six points. Shackelford and freshman Liam Goran also hit double figures with Goran scoring 14 points and adding six rebounds. Shackelford scored 12 — all in the first half — including eight in the second quarter when Keystone began tightening the screws on Manchester. The Wildcats jumped out to a 12-2 lead in the opening 2:38, including a five-point possession thanks to an offensive rebound by sophomore Emory Fedor on a missed free throw. That led to an old-fashioned three-point play from Goran. Fedor came off the bench to score eight points and grab seven rebounds. "Everything just started clicking," Shackelford said. "Everyone was just sharing the ball. We moved fast, got into the paint, kicked it out and just kept moving. It was good basketball. It feels great because you feel like you can do anything on the court that you want to." Even though Shackelford was done scoring at halftime, he was not done helping out his team. His defense led to easy transition points on three occasions — notching an assist for each one — as Hartley was on the receiving end twice, scoring eight points in the quarter. The Wildcats opened the quarter on a 12-5 run, pushing their lead to 52-34, and the Panthers never got back within single digits. "This was probably our most complete game of the year," Keystone coach Jeff Holzhauer said. "This was the time to do it. I thought our kids were prepared. Nobody wants this to end. All season we've been talking about how this is Grant's team. He's put his heart and soul into this basketball program. Whatever he does out there, we're going to support him. His good decisions, his bad decisions, we've got his back. We go as he goes and he was really getting some easy buckets for his teammates out there." Contact Chris Sweeney at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com and follow him @CSweeney1686 on X. Keystone 67, Manchester 51 KEYSTONE (67): Liam Goran 6-1-14, Grant Hartley 7-1-16, Logan Nagle 3-0-6, Zach Shackelford 4-3-12, Tucker Webb 1-0-2, Emory Fedor 4-0-8, Blake Moore 3-0-7, Karter Urig 0-0-0, Vince Taylor 1-0-2. Totals 29-5-67. MANCHESTER (51): Marko Zuza 2-1-6, Brady Johnson 3-3-9, Zach Isakov 1-2-4, Logan Carr 2-1-7, Michael Veppert 2-2-8, Josiah Morgan 0-4-4, Ian Galloway 4-0-8, Luke Donaldson 1-0-3, Landon Kieffer 1-0-2. Totals 16-13-51. Keystone&emsp; 19&emsp;21&emsp;19&emsp; 8&emsp;—&emsp;67Manchester&emsp;15&emsp;12&emsp;14&emsp;10&emsp;—&emsp;51 Three-point goals: Keystone 4-15 (Goran, Hartley, Moore, Shackelford), Manchester 6-20 (Carr 2, Veppert 2, Donaldson, Zuza). Field goals: Keystone 29-52 (56 percent), Manchester 16-45 (36 percent). Free throws: Keystone 5-9 (56 percent), Manchester 13-15 (87 percent). Rebounds: Keystone 33 (Hartley 9), Manchester 27 (Zuza 7). Total fouls: Keystone 16, Manchester 11. Turnovers: Keystone 11, Manchester 16.