Boys basketball: Cold stretch in second half costs Keystone in district semifinal loss to Lake Catholic

NILES — Keystone went cold at the wrong time. Lake Catholic erased an eight-point third-quarter deficit with a 14-0 run overg the course of six minutes and held on for a 56-51 win in a Division III, Northeast 1 semifinal at Niles High School on Monday night. Lake Catholic (11-13), the 28th seed, will face either No. 8 seed Canton Central Catholic (16-7) or No. 25 Smithville (10-14) — which play tonight — in the district championship Friday. Keystone, the 30th seed, ends its season at 14-11. "It definitely sucks because we wanted this one bad," said senior Grant Hartley, who finished with 12 points, four rebounds and two steals in his final game with the Wildcats. "But a district semifinal is still really cool. Our season was up and down, but we finished really strong so there really can't be anything to be down on ourselves about." Keystone methodically built its lead despite a hot start from 3-point range by Lake Catholic, which rode Frankie Trinetti's 3-for-4 start to a 14-8 first-quarter lead. But the Wildcats ended the quarter by reeling off 10 straight points, including four from Hartley. Even though the Cougars tied Keystone three times in the second quarter, the Wildcats didn't relinquish the lead until the end of the third quarter. A technical called on Aiden Webb provided a spark for Keystone, as freshman Liam Goran scored six straight points and finished the first half with 12 of his game-high 18 points. "It just brought our energy up knowing we would get the ball after the technical," Goran said. "We just had to make the best of it. I was feeling good. I just had to get to my spots and make my shots." Goran was in the zone to start the third quarter, scoring four straight to help the Wildcats go up 37-27. It looked as if Keystone was going to pull away, but Lake Catholic ended the quarter with nine unanswered points to take a 44-43 lead on Peyton Budrys-Rini's 3-pointer. The Cougars' run reached 14 during the six-minute stretch dating back to 2:40 left in the third quarter. The Wildcats stayed within one possession for the next two minutes, getting the deficit down to 51-50 with 1:33 left. Ace Peterlin slammed the door for Lake Catholic by scoring the last five points, including a crazy runner off the glass that put the Cougars back up 53-50 with 1:20 left. Keystone cut the deficit to 53-51, but Peterlin struck again with a one-handed finish and iced the game by splitting a pair of free throws Hartley's corner three wouldn't go. "We just had bad possessions," Keystone coach Jeff Holzhauer said. "They did a better job defensively. I can say we rush shots, but that's what we do. We just didn't make the plays during that stretch. We made plays in the first half, the third quarter, but then that stretch in the third we couldn't get going offensively. It was a hard-fought game and our kids were working really, really hard." Contact Chris Sweeney at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com and follow him @CSweeney1686 on X. Lake Catholic 56, Keystone 51 KEYSTONE (51): Emory Fedor 1-1-3, Liam Goran 9-0-18, Grant Hartley 4-4-12, Logan Nagle 2-2-6, Zach Shackelford 4-0-9, Blake Moore 1-0-3, Tucker Webb 0-0-0. Totals 21-7-51. LAKE CATHOLIC (56): Aiden Webb 5-1-12, Ace Peterlin 4-1-10, Cross Nimmo 4-0-8, Frankie Trinetti 3-0-9, Peyton Budrys-Rini 6-0-14, D.J. Sears 0-0-0, Jacob Rozman 1-0-3, Andrew Pellecchia 0-0-0. Totals 23-2-56. Keystone&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;18&emsp;14&emsp;11&emsp; 8&emsp;—&emsp;51Lake Catholic&emsp;14&emsp;13&emsp;17&emsp;12&emsp;—&emsp;56 Three-point goals: Keystone 2-13 (Moore, Shackelford), Lake Catholic 8-22 (Trinetti 3, Burdys-Rini 2, Pellecchia, Rozman, Webb). Field goals: Keystone 21-44 (48 percent), Lake Catholic 11-30 (36 percent). Free throws: Keystone 7-12 (58 percent), Lake Catholic 2-8 (25 percent). Rebounds: Keystone 18 (Goran 5), Lake Catholic 28 (Nimmo 10). Total fouls: Keystone 14, Lake Catholic 16. Turnovers: Keystone 13, Lake Catholic 13.