Titans rally again to topple Strongsville

in Strongsville’s five possessions. It allowed Lorain to take the lead after a 3-pointer by Justin Ruiz and a layup by Jodeci Crite. Devon Grant (18 points) gave the Titans a 58-55 lead with a mid-range jumper.

Though the Mustangs cut the deficit to one, 58-57, Lorain pulled away with Jordan Jackson’s layup and Taevon Pieree-Louis’ (gamehigh 19 points) rebound and putback. The Titans’ gritty defense was epitomized with 5-foot-6 Kameron Davis guarding Mustangs 6-6 point guard Omari Peek.

Rostiano, who put Davis on Peek halfway through the third quarter, thought it changed the game as Peek scored only six points in the second half.

“He (Davis) caused (Peek) all kinds of problems,” Rositano said. “He (Davis) has got the quick hands and through experience I have found big guys who handle the ball don’t like to be guarded by little guys. It makes them uncomfortable and I thought that is what he (Davis) did.”

In the third quarter, Lorain struggled on both ends of the floor. The Mustangs erased a seven-point halftime deficit with a 10-0 run en route to their third quarter offensive explosion.

Though Davis might be small in stature, the heart and toughness he displayed was much bigger than his physical size.

“I just did whatever my team needed me to do,” Davis said. “If they need me to get rebounds and play defense, I’ll just do that.

“If they need to take someone out of the game, they’ll put me on them. But we all have defense.”

The roller-coaster Rositano spoke about reared its head in the first half.

Lorain was just 3 of 21 from the field in the first quarter. After failing to covert on the seven turnovers they created in the first quarter, the second quarter was much different. They forced seven more turnovers (26 total) and poured in 26 points in the second quarter to halve the lead at half.

Preaching rebounding and defense has always been a constant throughout Rositano’s career, but he realizes this team is going to win with the mantra.

“We’ve going to have to win games with defense,” he said. “We don’t have the size and the depth we’ve had in the past. So, we’re trying to scrap games out.”