Pioneers get first GCC victory

Elyria used an all-around team effort to earn its first Greater Cleveland Conference victory of the season, defeating Medina, 68-60, at home on Dec. 15.

After being left in the dust by Solon in its conference opener, Elyria got back to its style of play, spreading the ball around nicely as four Pioneers scored in double figures.

“We absolutely needed to win that,” Pioneers coach Brett Larrick said. “It was the second conference game, didn’t want to go down 0-2. It was the first conference home game of the year. Definitely one that we needed … I thought our guys gave really great effort. I thought we challenged them to play hard, and they did that.”

The Pioneers (3-1, 1-1 GCC) took a haymaker in the early going, as the Bees (1-3, 0-2 GCC) came out with a swarming defense from the opening jump. The intense play, paired with a couple of quick baskets from Medina’s 6-foot-7 senior Tyler Kaminski let Elyria know they were going to be in for a close one.

“That’s the best that

our kids have competed against Elyria. I was actually pleased with the effort and the intensity there. We came out with a lot of pop, which we have been struggling with this year at times during the season,” Bees coach Chris Hassinger said.

After Medina took an 11-10 lead at the end of the first quarter, the Pioneers began to establish their rhythm, knocking down a pair of jumpers and stifling Medina’s shooters. Pioneer freshman MarSuan Robinson emerged as a budding star, helping claim a 31-22 halftime lead. He knocked down three 3-pointers and finished with a team-high 18 points.

The freshman admitted he is still trying to jell with the team, but continues to gain confidence each game.

“Yeah, I do (feel confident),” Robinson said. “We’re a young team. We are just starting to come together and play together as a family.”

Senior Roman Carter also led the second-quarter charge as Elyria continued to turn up the pace. He finished with a team-high 18 points and four rebounds, including four 3-pointers.

The three-point shooting seemed to be going well for both teams, as Medina went 8-of-14, while Elyria finished 7-of-11 from deep.

Carter, a senior, spent time on junior varsity last year, which has helped him grow into a serious threat from behind the arc.

“I’m comfortable. I step up and do my job. I just try to lead by example,” Carter said.

With Carter and Robinson thriving, Elyria’s senior center Justin Koepp also began to get going, as he was paired up against the Bees’ Kaminski. After a couple of missed shots early on, Koepp broke through, knocking down a pair of buckets in over his counterpart. Koepp finished with 15 points, seven rebounds and one block, while Kaminski notched 17 points, four rebounds, two assists and one block.

Medina hung close in the third quarter, often cutting the lead between nine and 10n points, but continued to trail, thanks in large part to Koepp’s play, as well as a pair of nifty shots and aggressive play from Deviian Wiliams.

Coach Larrick felt Williams’ contribution was just what the team was looking for.

“We got on him to be aggressive, get into the paint, get into the boards,” Larrick said.

Williams finished with 15 points.

Elyria took a 47-36 lead into the fourth quarter and found itself a free throw shooting contest in the closing minutes after maintaining a seven- to eight-point lead for most of the fourth. As crunch time ticked down, Medina fouled, and fouled often. Needing to knock down their free throws, Elyria answered the challenge.

The Pioneers went 8-of-9 from the line in the closing minutes, including Williams’ 4-of-5.

As a whole, both teams found comfort at the charity stripe. Medina went 14of-18, while Elyria finished 13-of-18.

With the GCC not getting any easier, and his team still trying to put all the pieces together, Larrick knows he is going to need all-around effort like this game to help Elyria go far this season.

“That’s what it takes to win. We are going to need everybody to contribute, and I thought we did that,” Larrick said.