Boys Basketball: Keystone rallies to edge Olmsted Falls in DiFranco Classic

EATON TWP. — Keystone came from behind in the second half to defeat Olmsted Falls 55-53 in a thriller at the 25th annual DiFranco Classic on Wednesday at Troy DiFranco Court inside Midview High's Kubuski Gymnasium. Keystone sophomore Colt Cowling got fouled on a 3-point shot with nine seconds left and made two of the three free throws for the deciding points. Olmsted Falls' Mason Cerovac missed a baseline floater and Keegan Smith's putback was off as the Wildcats got a quality win over an excellent Bulldogs program. Keystone's top two guns, Cowling and Liam Goran, took over down the stretch in the fourth quarter, finishing with 20 and 19 points, respectively. A Goran drive to the basket gave Keystone its first lead, 49-48, with 3:10 left in the game. Cowling hit a clutch three at the 2:08 mark to extend the lead to 52-48. Keystone and Olmsted Falls had been longtime scrimmage partners before meeting in the opener this season. "We talk all the time about how we want to be tested, and our kids were tested," Keystone coach Jeff Holzhauer said. "And that's what we want, it's nice to come out with a win. You try to win all these games, but that's a really tough matchup for us. "I can't be more proud of our kids. What I really liked is they weren't afraid to make a mistake, even our role players. I mean obviously we got Liam and Colt out there doing their thing, but everyone else wanted the ball. Everyone else wanted to make plays, so that's what I really wanted to see." The Bulldogs played from in front for the entire first half. A 9-2 lead got them off to a good start before a Keystone timeout with 4:39 in the first quarter. Keystone struggled at times with Olmsted Falls' full-court man pressure, turning it over 10 times. As the Wildcats adjusted to the pressure, it upped their shot attempts and made for easier offense. A 3-pointer just before the first-half buzzer cut the Bulldogs lead to 29-26. A Goran three tied the game at 33 and a back-and-forth second half ensued. "The difference was we turned the ball over 10 times the first half and three times the second half. We still couldn't get on the boards so they still got a bunch of extra shots with all of their offensive rebounds, but we guarded really well," Holzhauer said. Cerovac, who finished with 14 points, is one of the best players in the area and a Division I college football recruit. Keystone countered him with 6-foot-5 senior Emory Fedor. "There's not many teams that can just guard Mason one-on-one, and we wanted to take our chances with Emory," Holzhauer said. "There's not many teams that have an Emory Fedor that can just guard him. He had to work so hard to get those 14." Cowling and Goran weren't afraid to take the big shots down the stretch and adjusted to the game as it went on. "Colt was struggling early just with the physicality, the kid's still a sophomore," Holzahauer said. "And Colt is strong, but he was just getting knocked off a little bit. Once he started squaring his feet in the second half ... it's just a matter of time. That kid is just going to go and go until he finds his groove. And Liam's just a competitor. He makes the right play, and he's so sneaky around the hoop." Keystone 55, Olmsted Falls 53 KEYSTONE (55): Liam Goran 8-1-19, Brendan Hagerman 3-0-6, Emory Fedor 1-0-2, Bobby Gurich 0-0-0, Colt Cowling 6-4-20, Ty Holzhauer 3-0-8. Totals 21-5-55. OLMSTED FALLS (53): Angelo Longo 3-4-11, Chris Tenn 2-0-5, Cole Odon 2-2-10, Mason Cerovac 6-1-14, Keegan Smith 2-0-4, Connor Lehmann 1-0-3, Jake Pasiak 2-0-6, Grant Hrabnicky 0-0-0. Totals 18-7-53. Keystone 12 14 12 17 — 55 Olmsted Falls 17 12 16 8 — 53 Three Point Goals: Keystone 8 (Goran 2, Cowling 4, Holzhauer 2), Olmsted Falls 8 (Longo 1, Tenn 1, Odon 2, Cerovac 1, Lehmann 1, Pasiak 2), Field Goals: Keystone 21-39 (54 percent), Olmsted Falls 20-53 (38 percent), Free Throws: Keystone 4-9, Olmsted Falls 5-7, Rebounds: Keystone 26, Olmsted Falls 26, Turnovers: Keystone 13, Olmsted Falls 7, Team Fouls: Keystone 6, Olmsted Falls 17.