Basketball is simple, really. You put the ball into the basket; that’s the big thing. And if that isn’t working, you do the little things — which means anything you can to help your teammates score and prevent the guys in the other uniforms from doing it.

If you’re not making shots OR doing the little things, you have problems. And, as in the case of the Granger Spartans in their first-round 72-54 loss to Toledo, you have a trip into the consolation bracket.

“That’s what I kept telling our guys,” Granger coach David Gibb said after watching his team miss its first 10 shots and hit barely a third of its attempts for the game. “If you’re not getting shots to fall, do something else — make assists, work hard on defense, set screens, rebound the ball. If you’re not doing any of those things, well ...”

Then the game can get ugly, as the Spartans’ performance did quickly against Toledo — which, for its part, was doing all of the little things well and shooting lights-out at the same time. The Indians (21-3) shot a blistering 60.5 percent (26-for-43) from the field, and even Jarrod Yates — not normally a high scorer, but Toledo’s king of the little things — was burning the nets. Yates finished with 21 points on 8-for-11 shooting, tying Ryan Votaw (a 22.3 scorer for the year) for game-high honors.

“I thought he played great,” Toledo coach Scott Merzoian said of Yates, who had 12 of his points in the first half, when the Indians built a 19-point lead. “He does so many things for us. He’s kind of an unsung hero — I can’t say enough good things about him.”

On the flip side, the Spartans (17-8) were doing little of anything. R.J. Solis missed all 11 of his shots in the first half, when the Spartans shot 0-for-10 from 3-point territory. And Granger’s cat-quick defenders didn’t seem so quick at all.

“We had watched them on video and knew how quick they could be, and that really scared me,” Merzoian said. “We talked about that — that if you don’t handle their pressure, they’ll get the steals and score.”

But the Spartans’ defense didn’t get into high gear until the second half, and by that time they were in too deep of a hole.

“We’re not great digging out of holes,” Gibb said. “But I’m proud of their effort. They never quit.”

Nonstarter Jesse Cardenas was the Spartans’ best player Wednesday, scoring 12 of his 14 points in the second half. Granger’s defenders also had eight second-half steals, but couldn’t get any closer than 14 points as Toledo remained cool and steady.

“They did a great job of sticking to their plan,” Gibb said of the Indians. “Maybe if we’d made a couple of those first bunch of misses ... it’s a different story.”

Granger -- Solis 2-14 0-0 5, Dodd 0-0 0-0 0, Cardenas 5-11 2-3 14, Mengarelli 4-9 0-0 9, Arriaga 1-6 0-0 2, Lopez 3-6 1-2 7, Villa 4-10 0-0 9, Obregon 0-0 0-0 0, Carpenter 0-0 0-0 0, Alegria 3-7 2-2 8, Castro 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 22-65 5-7 54.
Toledo -- Herbert 0-0 0-0 0, Askin 0-1 0-0 0, King 2-3 2-2 7, Taylor 0-0 0-0 0, Fiecke 0-0 0-0 0, Votaw 8-14 4-5 21, Rakoz 6-8 3-3 15, Zamorano 1-2 2-2 4, Wallace 0-0 2-2 2, Raphael 1-4 0-0 2, Yates 8-11 5-6 21. Totals 26-43 18-20 72.
Granger	7	10	14	23	--	54
Toledo	18	18	16	20	--	72
3-point goals--G 5-22 (Cardenas 2-4, Mengarelli 1-4, Villa 1-5, Solis 1-9), T 2-7 (King 1-1, Votaw 1-4, Askin 0-1, Rakoz 0-1). Rebounds--G 28 (Arriaga 6, Alegria 6), T 36 (Votaw 6). Assists--G 8 (Mengarelli 4), T 13 (King 5, Votaw 4). Steals--G 12 (Mengarelli 2, Arriaga 2, Lopez 2, Villa 2, Castro 2), T 9 (Rakoz 3). Blocked shots--G 1, T 2. Fouled out--Mengarelli. Total fouls--G 21, T 13. Technical fouls--None. Turnovers--G 15, T 23.