Boys Basketball: Ty Holzhauer does it again vs. Oberlin in Keystone win

LAGRANGE — When Keystone sophomore Ty Holzhauer sees an Oberlin uniform on the court he unleashes his inner Stephen Curry. Holzhauer had a game-high 22 points and the Wildcats turned a two-point game into a rout with a second-half surge to defeat Oberlin 65-37 in a Lorain County League game. Keystone (11-2, 8-1) never trailed but allowed the Phoenix to hang around for most of the first three quarters. The high point for Oberlin (7-7, 5-4) came when senior Carmello Williams drained a 3-pointer on the first possession of the second half to cut the Keystone lead to 21-19. Holzhauer made a pair of third-quarter baskets as the Wildcats went on a 7-1 run to extend the lead to 30-22. Little did everyone in the Keystone gym know the 6-foot-1 guard was just getting started. In the fourth quarter Holzhauer was 5-for-5 from beyond the arc as Keystone outscored the Phoenix 25-9 in the final eight minutes. "I was just in a rhythm," Holzhauer said. "My teammates were feeding me open shots. We moved the ball a lot more in the second half. When we move the ball we get open shots and I was able to convert on those." Although Holzhauer was in the starting lineup Friday night, he's been coming off the bench much of the season, so it might be assumed that 22 points and six 3-pointers were career highs. But Holzhauer put up even bigger numbers in the first meeting between the teams when he scored 25 points and connected on seven 3-pointers. "When everyone plays their role really well we can be one of the best teams in the state, in my opinion," Holzhauer said. On a night when the Phoenix defense held star guard Liam Goran to a season-low 11 points, the Wildcats got big contributions from sophomore Colt Cowling, who added 19 points, including three 3-pointers, and junior Brendan Hagerman, who had a team-high 10 rebounds and eight points. "We were challenged to give it our all," Hagerman said. "We were relentless in our rebounding, we all pitched in and fought together as a team." Keystone ended the night with a 33-16 rebounding edge. The Phoenix didn't get its first points off the bench until the final two minutes of the game, but the starting five, led by Williams, who finished with 20 points, and senior Jozayah Smith, who scored nine, gave coach Kurt Russell a lot to be happy about until they wore down late in the game. "We played hard that first half. I thought we had a good game plan," Russell said. "I give Keystone a lot of credit, they shot much better. Our bench is not that deep so a lot of guys tally a lot of minutes and guys get really tired. We knew Keystone was going to make some shots but I felt like I saw a lot of improvement from the first game against Keystone." In the second quarter Keystone was held to eight points but came out and outscored the Phoenix 44-21 in the second half. "We came out a little flat and half a step slow in the first half," Keystone coach Jeff Holzhauer said. "We did a better job in the second half of playing off one another, getting more rhythm shots and everything flowed better. "Getting more guys to step up and get involved in the offense is going to be the key to our season. Brendan Hagerman stepped up with six assists and Ty really knocked down the shots in the fourth quarter. And we were doing a lot of little things right in the second half." Contact Todd Shapiro at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Keystone 65, Oberlin 37 Oberlin (37): Korrie Freeman 0-1-1, Jozayah Smith 3-0-9, Carmello Williams 7-2-20, Drew Walter 1-0-2, Cade Thompson 1-0-3, Julean Page 1-0-2. Totals 13-3-37. Keystone (65): Reed Grams 0-1-1, Liam Goran 4-1-11, Ty Holzhauer 8-0-22, Brendan Hagerman 4-0-8, Bobby Gurich 2-0-4, Colt Cowling 6-4-19. Totals 24-6-65. Oberlin&emsp;9&emsp;7&emsp;12&emsp;9&emsp;—&emsp;37 Keystone&emsp;13&emsp;8&emsp;19&emsp;25&emsp;—&emsp;65 Three-point goals: Oberlin (Williams 4, Smith 3, Thompson), Keystone (Holzhauer 6, Cowling 3, Goran 2) Field goals: Oberlin 13-36 (36 percent), Keystone 24-47 (51 percent). Free throws: Oberlin 3-4 (75 percent), Keystone 6-10 (60 percent). Rebounds: Oberlin 16, Keystone 33. Turnovers: Oberlin 9, Keystone 7. Team fouls: Oberlin 14, Keystone 11. Junior varsity: Keystone, 57-18.