Boys basketball: Keystone rallies after rough first half in 54-36 victory over Wellington

WELLINGTON — The mark of a championship team isn't playing well when everything is going smoothly, it's how well it can handle adversity to find a way to win. Keystone showed Tuesday night why it's still in the Lorain County League title hunt as it overcame its worst first half of the season to pull away to defeat Wellington 54-36. The Wildcats (16-5, 12-1 LCL) shot 21 percent (5-of-24) from the field in the opening two quarters with only three assists while also shooting 50 percent (3-of-6) from the free throw line, allowing Wellington to take a 20-16 lead into the locker room. "We were selfish in the first half. That was as selfish as I've seen that group play in a long time," Keystone coach Jeff Holzhauer said. "Wellington has good athletes and they're long and all we did in the first half was shoot contested shots." Keystone chipped away at the deficit and picked up the defensive intensity in the third quarter. Ty Holzhauer's 3-pointer with 3:30 left in the quarter tied the game at 28 and sparked a 13-0 Wildcats run. "We showed more mental toughness in the second half by doing the right thing," Holzhauer said. "Everything we talked about at halftime we did. We shared the ball and it was a different half." Junior Liam Goran scored 13 of his game-high 18 points in the second half as Keystone outscored the Dukes 38-16. "In the locker room at halftime, Coach told us to pressure the ball a little bit more. We did good things on defense and it led to more offense," Goran said. "Wellington tried to slow the game down in the first half. In the second half we did a better job of getting up and down the floor and playing how we want to play." The win put Keystone in position to clinch a share of the LCL title Friday when it hosts Brookside. The Cardinals handed the Wildcats their only conference loss earlier this season. Wellington (3-14, 2-11) has struggled to score points all season but Tuesday the Dukes defense, which is second in the LCL in points allowed, was on full display. "We did a real good job of following our game play. Obviously Goran and Cowling are going to get a lot of attention and the kids did a good job of that," Wellington coach Jim Baker said. "We missed a few shots in the third quarter and that almost made us a few steps slow on defense. If we keep executing like we did tonight and following the game plan, better days are ahead for us." Junior Conner Kinser led the Dukes with nine points while seniors Gavin Wacker and Deakan Wirth each added eight points. Keystone leading scorer Colt Cowling had a quiet 13 points. After he made a 3-pointer late in the opening quarter to give the Wildcats a 9-8 lead, he didn't have another field goal until the final 1:42 of the game. "Everything started off slow tonight," Cowling said. "We've just got to get back into a rhythm and keep practicing hard. In the second half we focused on sharing the ball and doing way better on defense." Ty Holzhauer added 12 points for the Wildcats, eight of which came in the third quarter. Contact Todd Shapiro at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Keystone 54, Wellington 36 KEYSTONE (54): Liam Goran 6-4-18, Ty Holzhauer 4-1-12, Emory Fedor 2-3-7, Brendan Hagerman 2-0-4, Colt Cowling 4-4-13. Totals 18-12-56 WELLINGTON (36): James Wacker 2-0-4, Conner Kinser 4-0-9, Bryce Lehmkuhl 1-1-3, Landon Whitehouse 2-0-4, Gavin Wacker 4-0-8, Deakin Wirth 2-3-8. Totals 15-4-36 Keystone&emsp;9&emsp;7&emsp;20&emsp;18&emsp;—&emsp;54 Wellington&emsp;8&emsp;12&emsp;8&emsp;8&emsp;—&emsp;36 Three-point goals: Keystone (Holzhauer 3, Goran 2, Cowling), Wellington (Wirth, Kinser). Field goals: Keystone 18-46 (39 percent), Wellington 15-48 (31 percent). Free throws: Keystone 12-18 (67 percent), Wellington 4-9 (44 percent). Rebounds: Keystone 38, Wellington 32. Turnovers: Keystone 8, Wellington 14. Team fouls: Keystone 14, Wellington 19. Technical foul: Ty Holzhauer. Junior varsity: Keystone, 46-25.