Titans overwhelm Cardinals

Coming off a loss to Cleveland Central Catholic, Lorain responded the way coach John Rositano wanted, topping host Shaw, 66-49, on Dec. 22. The Titans left no doubt. After taking an early 9-6 first quarter lead, Lorain never relinquished it.

Junior guard Devon Grant scored a game-high 23 points, while teammates Jordan Jackson tallied 14 and Taevon Pierre-Louis had 13 points.

The Titans improved to 5-1 overall and Shaw dropped to 1-5.

“Our mentality is to always win, play hard and keep jelling together,” Grant said.

Grant scored in a variety of ways — pullups, transition baskets and knocked down three 3-pointers to show off his expanded game.

“I just try to work hard on every aspect of my game,” Grant said. “I try to get more explosive, quicker and stronger.”

“He was a dribble drive guy last year and now he’s got the pullup jumper, along with his three point shot,” Lorain coach John Rositano said. “He’s an allaround type scorer and we’re going to need that from him.”

The Titans held a 30-22 halftime lead — and Grant scored 13 of his points in the first half. He opened up the third quarter with a pullup jumper, and later, Lorain got a key basket with a foul from junior Justin Ruiz to lead, 47-31, entering the fourth.

Grant started the fourth with back-to-back 3s for a 53-31 lead to put the Cardinals away.

Along with Grant, Lorain’s offense constantly put pressure on Shaw’s defense, getting to the line 28 times and knocked 20 free throws. Shaw went six of seven from the stripe, and the Titans outrebounded

the Cardinals, 42-26, led by junior Jodeci Crite’s 10.

“We challenged Jodeci to get eight, nine, 10 rebounds tonight,” Rositano said. “And he did. I thought Jordan Jackson scored some buckets there as the game went on. When our younger guys can score and do things that help our veterans, we’re going to be a really good basketball team. We’ve seen glimpses of it, and we’ve got to just put it together for longer stretches. It takes time, and we never question our guys’ effort. They always go hard and compete.”

The young Titans got a taste of their first loss on Dec. 19, and playing backto-back games in Cleveland is never an easy thing. Jackson’s youth didn’t hold him back on this night.

“We knew it was a tough loss on Tuesday against CCC and in practice we were just going hard,” Jackson said. “We’re trying to get back to the district championship and hopefully even farther.

“It’s a lot pressure starting as a sophomore. But Pierre-Louis and Grant have helped me through it teaching me little stuff about the game.”

Lorain gets a week off before hosting the Lorain County Holiday Classic on Dec. 29-30. The Titans kick off the tournament against rival Elyria at 7:30 p.m.