Margaretta boys fall 54-50 to No. 1 Toledo Central Catholic

CASTALIA — Margaretta got back in the game. The Polar Bears trailed by 10 points in the third quarter, but sliced within two points with a surge in the fourth quarter. That was the closest Division V No. 3 Margaretta got, ultimately falling 54-50 to Division III No. 1 Toledo Central Catholic on Saturday night at the Tourney Tune-Up. "They're really good," said Margaretta coach Steve Keller of the Irish. "I was really pleased with our effort. I was really pleased with our ability to compete. We took another step in the right direction because our strength of schedule has been really good. "It's only making us, I feel, better as we continue to move down this road toward the second season." A 3-pointer from Julian Washington helped the Polar Bears (15-3) get within 44-38 after three quarters. The Irish (13-2) opted to burn clock early in the fourth quarter. TCC took more than two minutes off the clock before missing a shot. Judah Keller scored for Margaretta on the other end. After an Irish turnover, Washington got to the rim and put it in. Suddenly, the Polar Bears were within 44-42 with 5:09 to play. Central Catholic's Manny Johnson scored out of an Irish timeout and after an empty possession by Margaretta a tally by Kaeden Carruthers off a putback pushed the Bears' deficit to 48-42. Carruthers was huge all night for TCC, but he was key in the fourth quarter. He added two more buckets off of offensive rebounds to put Margaretta away. The game's Most Valuable Player finished with 14 points and 17 rebounds. "Carruthers was difficult," coach Keller said. "We would get in a help situation where we had to rotate over, but then we'd have nobody on the back side for that 6-foot-7 frame. He really hurt us, in the second half especially. They made plays and he's the MVP for a reason." Tyson Bailey was hot for the Polar Bears early. He scored Margaretta's first six points and later hit a foul line jumper for a 15-9 lead. The Polar Bears didn't trail in the first quarter, taking a 17-14 advantage after eight minutes. The Irish heated up from the outside as the tide changed in the second quarter. Four different TCC players connected from deep in the quarter. The last — from Dre Wardrop — gave the Irish a 28-25 edge. Buckets from Carruthers and Wardrop pushed Central Catholic up 32-27 at halftime. Margaretta struggled to find an offensive rhythm out of the halftime break. The Polar Bears missed their first seven shots in the third quarter. That allowed the Irish to surge ahead 38-28. Cayden Kynard scored 12 points for TCC while Johnson, an Eastern Michigan signee, added 11 points and five rebounds. "We battled and that's all you can ask," coach Keller said. "I thought our energy was good, but I thought Central would be ready to go and they were. A game like this is only going to benefit us. This is better than winning by 35 or 40. I'm very pleased with our guys' ability to compete." Washington led all scorers with 26 points. The Polar Bears resume their pursuit of a Sandusky Bay Conference Bay Division title Friday when they host Vermilion. "This was just a barometer to see where we were at," coach Keller said. "They had a stretch where they were banging 3s in the second quarter and we had a stretch in the third quarter where we hit a drought. We've been really good, but that's something we have to take a look at and get better from. That's what this game does." CENTRAL CATHOLIC (13-2) Manny Johnson 4 2-3 11, Jordan Langford 1 0-0 3, Jason Lawson 2 0-0 5, Cayden Kynard 5 0-0 12, Kaeden Carruthers 6 2-5 14, Dre Wardrop 3 0-0 7, Anthony Sylvester 0 2-2 2. TOTALS 21 6-10 54 MARGARETTA (14-3) Kale Bailey 1 0-0 3, Keiygan Morris 0 0-0 0, Julian Washington 11 1-2 26, Judah Keller 4 1-3 9, Tyson Bailey 5 0-0 10, Jake Bouy 0 2-2 2. TOTALS 21 4-7 50 Central Catholic 14 18 12 10 — 54 Margaretta 17 10 11 12 — 50 Three-point goals: Central Catholic 6 (Kynard 2, Johnson, Langford, Lawson, Wardrop); Margaretta 4 (Washington 3, K. Bailey)