Olmsted Falls beats Toledo Christian in Knight Classic

Toledo Christian's Ethan Michael takes flight during Friday night's action in the Knight Christmas Classic.

The Blade/Andy Morrison
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Toledo Christian's Ethan Michael takes flight during Friday night's action in the Knight Christmas Classic.

Toledo Christian took another step in building recognition of its basketball program Friday night, but it wasn t enough to ovecome Olmsted Falls.

The Eagles lost 75-68 in the Knight Christmas Classic at St. Francis de Sales.

Despite advancing four times in Division IV district play, perennial Division II power Olmsted Falls was just too much for TC.

Three times in the closing two minutes of regulation the Eagles held leads only to watch the Bulldogs pull even and eventually force overtime.

Ethan Michael, TC s 6-7 Air Force-bound senior forward, turned in a solid 20-point, 13-rebound performance. But it was Michael s passing that put the Eagles in position to win late in the fourth quarter.

The Bulldogs Tony Lanza, who hit five 3-pointers en route to a team-high 17 points, lofted a lob pass to Scott Kimmey for a layup with 10 seconds left in regulation to force OT.

In the extra period, Kimmey came alive, scoring seven unanswered points, one on a 3-pointer, to give his team a lead (71-64) they would not relinquish.

In the second game of the night, St. Francis topped Anthony Wayne 64-51, but it was hardly a memorable win for the host Knights who finally put it together in the second half.

The Knights 6-3 senior Brody Henry paced St, Francis over the winless Generals with 20 points and eight rebounds.

Fourteen of Henry s points seven in each the third and fourth quarters came after halftime when St. Francis (2-2) pulled ahead for good midway in the third and pulled away down the stretch.

The Knights' Jake Szenderski (40) drives past Anthony Wayne's Jay Rezabek during the first quarter at the Knight Christmas Classic Friday night.

The Knights also got 11 points and six rebounds from 6-11 junior center Storm Stanley. Stanley missed most of the first half after picking up his second foul at 3:02 into the game. Greg Fockler added 10 points for St. Francis.

Anthony Wayne (0-7) didn t look like a winless team early on, outhustling the Knights while building an early lead of 14-6 on Cam Walton s layup with 3:40 left in the first quarter.

The sluggish Knights got back within 16-13 on a Kent Goldsmith free throw early in the second quarter before consecutive buckets from Andrew Donnal and Brad Celusta stretched the edge back to seven points.

Celusta had 14 of his game-high 22 points in the opening half. Walton added 16 for the Generals.