Late scoring run lifts Titans past Hornets

PORTSMOUTH — Some missed our opportunities

"Overall you obviously want to win the game, but I'm pleased with our effort," said Coal Grove coach Kevin Vanderhoof. "I played about 8 guys and I was pleased with what they did."

The Hornets (1-1) were led offensively by Brayden Klaiber with a team-high 15 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists. Bronson Guy had 11 points and 2 steals. Ayden Hankins chipped in 9 points in the losing effort.

Notre Dame got a game-high 18 points from Zion Boerger to lead the Titans. Garrett Barabis had 12 points and grabbed a team-high 7 boards.

Both teams traded scoring spurts to take the lead at different stanzas of the first half.

Coal Grove led for much of the first quarter until Kenady McGraw drained a triple from the corner to put the Titans ahead 17-14 with 38 seconds left in the opening frame.

In the second, Notre Dame (1-1) rallied out to a 22-17 lead following a triple from Barabis.

But the Hornets rallied with a 15-4 run over the span of the final 6:04 of the half to take a 32-26 lead at the break.

During the run, Klaiber scored the final seven points — which included two jumpers a pair of free throws, Dome had a layup off a feed from Caden Turner, Guy buried a triple and Hankins floated in a turnaround in the lane.

The first 2 minutes and the final 2 minutes of the third quarter proved to be a most critical moments of the game.

The Hornets were able to make stops on the defensive end. However, they couldn't stretch their lead as they were whistled for 3-consecutive player control fouls on the offensive end.

"At halftime, we were talking about we're up six, it's our possession to begin the second half. We wanted to run a little bit of offense and then try and get a bucket and get up 8 or 9. But we get an offensive foul and we got ourselves into a dogfight from there."

Despite the missed opportunity, the Hornets still battled in the third, grabbing a 41-38 lead when Rylan Smith drained a triple from the far corner with 1:37 left in the frame.

But the Titans took the lead for good in the final seconds when Kenady McGraw drew a foul with :03 seconds and sank the first of a two shot foul. However McGraw missed his second shot, but recovered his own rebound and scored on a put-back and drew a foul as time expired. McGraw swished the free throw to give the Titans a 42-41 lead and a ton of momentum.

"The second quarter has been a problem for us and we got down again tonight. We were able to come in and make a few adjustments." said Titans coach Matt Mader. "We weren't scoring but defensively, our feet were in better spots and we're taking some charges. Those things mounted and they got into some foul trouble in the third."

In the fourth, Boerger made some key shots for the Titans, including a layup to tie the game at 46-all with 4:26 remaining and sank two free throws to make the score 52-47 with under a minute remaining.

But the Hornets wouldn't go away as Smith drained a 3-pointer from the corner with 17 seconds remaining and then Smith made a heads up play to force a jump ball on the defensive end, and give the ball back to the Hornets with 14 seconds left on the clock.

Coal Grove got one final chance to walk off with a win, but Smith's 3-ball attempt rimmed out as the buzzer went off.

"Our kids were resilient. I told our kids after the game I'm proud of them. I thought we definitely got better tonight," said Vanderhoof. "Coach Mader is a great guy. I told our kids that they would 100-percent for sure, be a well coached team. That's a great basketball team."

Coal Grove 14 18 9 9 = 50

Notre Dame 13 9 16 10 = 52

COAL GROVE (1-1): Bronson Guy 2 2 1-2 11, Rylan Smith 1 1 1-2 6, Brayden Klaiber 3 2 3-4 15, Braden Schug 0 0 0-0 0, James Dome 2 1-2 5, Caden Turner 2 0 0-0 4, Ayden Hankins 4 1-2 9. Totals: 12 3 7-12 50. Rebounds: (O-9, D-23) 32 (Turner 8, Smith 5, Klaiber 4, Dome 4). Assists: 7 (Klaiber 3, Guy 2). Steals: 2 (Turner, Smith). Totals: 12 3 7-12 50. Turnovers: 12. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: None.

NOTRE DAME (1-1): Archie West 0 0 2-4 2, Sawyer Rutman 2 0 0-0 4, Jaxon Stombock 1 1 0-0 5, Keagan Fowler 0 0 0-0 0, Garrett Barabis 1 3 1-2 12, Bryce McGraw 0 0 0-2 0, Zion Boerger 7 0 4-4 18, Kenady McGraw 1 1 2-3 7. Totals: 12 5 9-15 52. Rebounds: (O-9, D-21) 30 (Barabis 7, McGraw 5, Stombock 5). Assists: 6. Steals: 4 (West 3). Turnovers: 6. Fouls: 14. Fouled out: None.