KIRTLAND — Senior leadership showed up in every big moment Monday night as Kirtland went wire-to-wire in a 59-51 win over Saint Thomas Aquinas in a Division VI District Semifinal.
Lucas Renfro sparked the Hornets off the bench with five quick points. Danny Shafer authored a personal 8-0 burst. Mike Dumstorff and Ben DiFranco controlled the paint defensively, while Jake LaVerde and Ryan Caimi made winning plays on both ends to seal the eight-point victory.
“Well, it’s about the preparation,” said Kirtland head coach Shawn McGregor. “The kids are working their butts off every day, we’re putting new stuff in, we’re executing on both ends, and they’re doing a really nice job. So many of these kids play different sports, like Jake’s a football player, Schafer plays golf, there’s a lot of intensity. They’ve been in these moments before. They’re senior competitors that want to go out, and they know how to win games, and they know how to react in the clutch. We’re a senior-laden team, and the seniors stepped up tonight and made the plays, and that’s how you do it.”
Kirtland wasted little time setting the tone. Caimi and Renfro buried back-to-back 3-pointers to ignite a 12-3 start. Shafer finished a transition layup, and Renfro later found DiFranco inside as the Hornets built an 18-8 lead after one quarter.
The momentum carried into the second. Caimi grabbed an offensive rebound and dished to LaVerde, then Shafer took over. The senior scored eight straight points and came up with two steals during the run, pushing the Hornets’ advantage to 36-20 at halftime.
Saint Thomas Aquinas made its push in the third, opening on a 9-3 run to trim the deficit to 10 with four minutes remaining in the quarter. Kirtland answered immediately. Caimi converted a steal into points, and Renfro delivered an assist to LaVerde to help extend the margin to 48-36 heading into the fourth.
From there, the Hornets locked in defensively, managing possessions and controlling the tempo to close out the win and punch their ticket to the district championship.
“When you have a team that comes in with that type of size and athleticism, it presents some problems,” McGregor said. “We knew the effort would either win or lose the game for us. I think the kids came out with fantastic effort early on. They forced a lot of turnovers and did a fantastic job. As far as March basketball goes, you’re going to get faced with different challenges every week, and every game is a different challenge. And tonight, I think we passed this challenge, and we’re ready for our next one.”
That next test comes Saturday against Oberlin, which defeated Rootstown in the other district semifinal, 47-27.
After a demanding stretch that included an injury and back-to-back weekend practices ahead of Monday’s game, the extra prep time is welcomed.
“It’s huge,” Shafer said. “We had to practice Saturday and Sunday with the Monday game, so it was a long week. It’s nice to have a couple of days to just recover a little bit, especially for Lucas. We’ll be good to go for Saturday for sure.”
DiFranco led the Hornets with 13 points and eight rebounds. Caimi and Shafer each scored 10 points. Shafer added four rebounds and two steals, while Caimi filled the stat sheet with six assists, five steals, four rebounds, and a block.
LaVerde contributed seven points and five rebounds. Renfro finished with seven points, and Dumstorff added six points and six rebounds.
Top-seeded Kirtland will face 10th-seeded Oberlin at Salem High School on March 7. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
