Tigers outscore Toledo Central Catholic 12-4 after the get called for technical foul, pull away for 60-52 win.
NORTH CANTON It's something you see regularly in a basketball game.
Two teams in a close game, and one of the teams is whistled for a technical foul. That opens the door for the other team to take the momentum and pull away for the win.
"It's a tie game, you've got the ball and you call a timeout," Tigers coach Michael Cruz said. "They call a 'T' on you and they get two free throws and the ball. The game shifts on that."
The game certainly did shift. Only it shifted for Massillon, which outscored the Irish 12-4 over the final 3:36 to pull away for a 60-52 victory over Toledo Central Catholic in the Mercy Medical Classic on Sunday at Hoover High School.
With 3:53 remaining, the Tigers called a timeout after Central Catholic tied the game at 48-48. As the teams were walking to their respective huddles, Massillon's Dyson Berry - who had a game-high 17 points to that point - commented on a no-call on the previous play and was his with a technical.
The Irish missed both free throws, then missed a shot on the subsequent possession. Massillon's Kamden Mannweiler then hit two free throws for a 50-48 lead it would never relinquish.
"I feel like we just knew in that situation that we had to come together as a team to pull the win out," said Anthony Ballard, who was 7-of-8 from the foul line for the Tigers over the final 1:12 of the game. "I just told our guys, 'Come on, we still have to do this.' ... I told D-Berry we got him and we'd stay composed and get the 'W.'"
That composure is a big reason why Massillon, after starting the season 0-4, has climbed back to the .500 mark at 6-6. The Tigers will take a three-game win streak into Tuesday evening's home game against Akron Ellet.
Eight of Massillon's 12 points in the game-ending run were scored from the foul line. The Tigers also had baskets by Brett Martin and Jayden Ballard in that run, the first providing a 52-48 lead with 3:19 left and the second a 54-50 edge with 2:13 remaining.
Martin added 16 points for Massillon. Dominique Cole led the Irish with 13 points.
For the game, Massillon was 20-of-24 from the foul line. The Tigers were 9-of-12 in the fourth quarter, including 8-of-10 over the final 3:36.
Central Catholic was 4-of-12 from the foul line for the game, including 2-of-8 in the fourth quarter.
"We work on our free throws and layups a lot," Ballard said. "We knew at that time we had to make free throws. We wanted Brett at the free-throw line, but they ended up fouling me. I just knew if we wanted to win this game, I have to make them."
The way the game ended belied a game which neither team could truly grabbed the momentum for the first three-and-a-half quarters. Central Catholic's biggest lead was the 5-0 margin it grabbed on the first two possessions of the game, which Massillon erased in all of 80 seconds for a 6-5 lead.
The Tigers, meanwhile, took their largest lead prior to the final margin when Berry hit two free throws with 4:26 left in the third. The Irish, though, answered that with a 6-0 burst for a 38-37 lead on Matthew Griffin's put-back with 2:40 remaining in the quarter.
"Basketball is a game of runs, and today was sort of an anomaly in that there really wasn't a big run by either team," Cruz said. "I think both teams were evenly matched. To win a game like this, this was like a tournament game in terms of how the game felt. ... Those are always great."
Massillon, which led 41-40 after three, twice built up four-point leads - at 45-41 and 48-44 - in the fourth quarter. Central Catholic erased both, including tying the game at 48-48 with 4:04 remaining.
Reach Chris at 330-775-1128 or chris.easterling@indeonline.com.
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