The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
3-pointer lifts Bay over Elyria Catholic
Sunahara gets key rebound for Bay, which wins fifth straight
Erik Painter’s 3-pointer in the final seconds lifted Bay over conference rival Elyria Catholic, 5552, in what was a much-needed win for the Rockets.
After R.J. Sunahara’s threepoint play tied the game with 1:53 left in regulation, the teams traded possessions before the Rockets took the ball down the floor with one minute to go.
Daniel Brajdic drove to the basket near the 10-second mark, but when his shot went in and out, Sunahara fought for a tough offensive rebound before kicking the ball out to Painter for a wide-open 3 with 1.8 seconds on the clock.
The Panthers’ Jarred Logan took the inbounds pass and threw up a shot just inside half court, but the ball bounced off the rim as the buzzer sounded and Bay (84, 3-1 GLC) came away with the victory to overcome the Panthers for second place in the Greater Cleveland Conference behind Holy Name.
“Originally, Dan, he had a good drive to the basket and we all thought (the shot) was down, but what people don’t really realize
is that rebound from R.J. that set up the whole play where he kicked it out to me,” Painter said.
“In those situations, since I’m the point guard and I hang back, so I’m usually back on defense so it just kind of put me in the right spot at the right time.”
The Rockets came back from a nine-point Elyria Catholic (4-5, 3-2) lead in the opening minute of the fourth quarter as the Panthers ended the third and began the fourth on an 11-0 run to go up, 50-41, before Bay went on a tear of its own.
Bay outscored Elyria Catholic, 14-2, in the final six minutes, including five of Sunahara’s team-leading 18 points, but what seemed to make the difference was its defense. After completing a three-point play with 7:27 to go, the Rockets held Elyria Catholic standout Dorian Crutcher scoreless the rest of the way.
Crutcher finished with a game-high 24 points.
“I thought Dorian did a great job of leading us,” Elyria Catholic coach Phil Kuchta said.
“I thought (Bay) really did a good job of just hanging around. They have some really good players. I mean, they’re playing well. They’ve been playing well here after Christmas. I thought we did a good job of keeping R.J. in check and Painter in check for the most part ... we just turned the ball over a couple times.”
The Panthers generally matched up well against Sunahara, who leads the area with 25.6 points and 12.4 rebounds per game. The 6-foot-6 senior added 15 rebounds, including nine offensive, while Painter finished with 10 points for Bay.
After starting the season at 3-4, the Rockets have won five straight games, and coach Jared Shetzer feels though his team may not even be playing its best basketball, the win over Elyria Catholic could certainly be a turning point as they prepare for a tough second half of the season.
“This should be the mark of a really good basketball team that’s turning the corner. But you’ve still got to play tomorrow at practice and Sunday at practice and Monday at practice, and you have a game on Tuesday, so time will tell. But it’s definitely a good sign that we have a pretty good basketball team,” Shetzer said.
“We’ve started to play better basketball here in the last six, seven games. We’re scratching the surface of how good we can be but we’re not there yet and that’s fine. We have plenty of time.”