Late charge lifts Raptors over Pacers
INDIANAPOLIS — DeMar DeRozan scored 24 points, Jonas Valanciunas added 16 points and 17 rebounds, and the Toronto Raptors rallied late to get past the Indiana Pacers 106-99 on Thursday night for their 10th straight victory.
The Raptors need one more win to tie the franchise’s longest winning streak. They haven’t lost since Feb. 23 and broke a tie with the 2016-17 squad for longest road winning streak, which is now at eight.
But it sure wasn’t easy on a night Darron Collison scored 22 points and Al Jefferson had a season-high 20 for Indiana.
The Pacers took the lead late in the first quarter and didn’t trail again until midway through the fourth.
Toronto finally seized control when C.J. Miles made three 3-pointers during a 12-3 spurt that turned an 85-81 deficit into a 93-88 lead with 5:21 to play. The Raptors never trailed again and led by as much as eight twice in the final eight minutes.
Indiana got within 102-99 in the final minute, but the Raptors closed it out when DeRozan stole an inbounds pass and scored on a breakaway dunk with 10.5 seconds left. James Harden scored 24 points, Eric Gordon added 23 and Houston outlasted Los Angeles at home Joel Embiid had 29 points and 10 rebounds, Ben Simmons finished with a triple-double, and Philadelphia used a big final period to rally past New York on the road.
Versailles basketball players looked up, up and up at opponents standing 6 feet 1, 6-1 and 6-1 when they went to midcourt for the opening tip-off, and that is something they hadn’t seen playing nonconference games or in the Midwest Athletic Conference.
What the Tigers lacked in stature they made up with desire and smarts as they rolled to a 63-47 victory over Elyria Catholic in a Division III girls state tournament semifinal Thursday at Value City Arena.
Coach Jacki Stonebraker wasn’t too worried.
“It wasn’t the cleanest game our ladies play, but down the stretch we got it done,” she said. “This is a different team than we’re used to playing. We’re not used to playing against such bigs inside. They adjusted and we got the ‘W,’ and that’s what matters.”
Versailles (28-1) will go after a third championship and first since 2015 at 2 p.m. Saturday.
The Tigers won the backboards 39-24, and that included taking down 14 at the offensive end. They started to take charge by moving to a 40-30 lead going into the fourth quarter.
Guard Kami McEldowney, who led the team with 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting, admitted there were nerves at first.
“As a leader, I needed to come in calm and show to my teammates that, ‘We’ve got this,’” she said. “There was no need to freak out. I think we still went in to our bigs. I think we were stronger even though they were thicker. We’re not going to stop getting into the post. That’s our game right there.”
Versailles does have one player with size, and 6-2 Danielle Winner totaled 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Minster 46, Waterford 31
In a Division IV semifinal, Minster held Waterford to 27.3 percent shooting and forced 18 turnovers to make its first championship game in 14 seasons.
Courtney Prenger had 13 points and five rebounds and Taylor Kogge added 10 points and three rebounds to lead Minster (25-3).
The key to victory, coach Mike Wiss said, was forcing Waterford (26-2) from its offensive comfort zone. The defense allowed one field goal in the final 11:24.
“I think we actually made a really good three-point shooting team a one-dimensional, penetrate to the rim team,” Wiss said. “We honestly didn’t give them many looks from the arc that were kick-outs, standstills, in transition or anything. It was a hand in the face and stay down on D.”
Waterford senior Alli Kern, who was the state player of the year in Division IV, was 4-of-11 shooting for 13 points.
Minster players were toddlers or in preschool when the team won the title in 2004.
“This means the world, but obviously we’re not done,” Kogge said. “This is something we’ve been working on for four years.”
Ottoville 44, Buckeye Central 25
The Big Green got 21 points and 11 rebounds from Bridgit Landin and forced the Buckettes into 17 turnovers and 37.0 percent shooting to reach its first Division IV championship game since 2005.
Ottoville (27-2) led 12-7 after the first quarter and didn’t allow Buckeye Central (26-2) to score more than eight points in a quarter.
This was a rematch of a 2017 regional semifinal when the Big Green won 52-38.
Jenna Karl led Buckeye Central with 15 points.