Lorain suffers first loss of the season

Lorain suffered its first loss of the season on the road Dec. 19 as the Titans fell, 73-62, to host Cleveland Central Catholic in a game that was virtually out of reach by halftime.

Lorain suffered its first loss of the season on the road Dec. 19 as the Titans fell, 73-62, to host Cleveland Central Catholic in a game that was virtually out of reach by halftime.

The Titans grabbed an 8-7 lead with 4:53 left in the first quarter but fell behind, 40-27, at halftime after shooting a dismal 10-of37 from the field over the first 16 minutes.

“It’s a shot-making game and we lost the game in the first half,” Lorain coach John Rositano said. “You can’t shoot 25 percent and expect to stay in the game against a really good team like that that shoots the ball well.

“They took us apart there a little bit in the first half. When you go down 13 against a team like that on the road, it’s an uphill battle.”

Lorain (3-1) finished 24of-64 from the field and

9-of-17 from the foul line compared to Central Catholic’s (2-1) 27-of-49 and 12of-16.

Central Catholic senior Delshawn Jackson lit up the Titans defense all night, finishing with a gamehigh 27 points, including four 3-pointers, while his brother Dyshawn Jackson and Anthony Billups each added 12 points and Trevon Wells 10 rebounds.

Devon Grant led the Titans with 25 points and 10 rebounds. The junior single-handedly tried to keep his team within striking distance, scoring 19 points in the second half after shooting 3-of-11 in the first, but there was no stopping Central Catholic.

“Lorain is always a tough team to beat every year no matter who they have and again they’ve got a stud over there and he gave us some problems all throughout the game,” Central Catholic coach Jordan Duke said of Grant.

“We weathered the storm a little bit with him coming at us. Eventually he caught fire and was just like, ‘I just have to try to take it over,’ and he kind of did that there for a second. But we came out with a mindset to defend a little better.

“I think overall we defended a hell of a lot better than we did last Friday and that’s kind of what got us over the hump and kept us with the lead.”

Taevon Pierre-Louis added 16 points and eight rebounds and Jaiden Sledge had 12 points for Lorain.

The Titans travel to Shaw Dec. 22 to continue Lake Erie League play.

“We’ve just got to keep getting better,” Rositano said. “Our guys need court time, they need environments like this and everything we’re doing is getting ready for tournament basketball. This is a game where we’ll watch the film, keep it in the back of our mind and get better from it.”