Crutcher breaks scoring record in Panthers win

Senior Dorian Crutcher set a new Elyria Catholic career scoring record with 1,223 points as the Panthers defeated Clearview, 56-42.

Senior Dorian Crutcher came into Tuesday night’s game needing just 21 points to break a record that had stood for the last 51 years — the career scoring record at Elyria Catholic High School.

With 10 points in the first half, Crutcher quickly went to work in the third quarter with nine of his team’s 17 points. And a putback with 4:42 remaining gave Crutcher the 21 points he needed.

Crutcher wound up leading all scorers with 23 points, giving him 1,223 career points, to lead his Panthers to a 56-42 win over Clearview at the EC Coliseum.

The record of 1,221 career points by Bobby Holliday had stood since 1966. It was fitting that Crutcher sent that mark tumbling down in the final regular season home game of his career.

“I just wanted get the job done and get back to helping this team win,” said Crutcher, who added three 3-pointers to close in on EC’s all-time career record for most 3s made. “It feels good to set this record. Just coming into the program four years ago and developing the camaraderie and the brotherhood with these guys has been great. I’m glad I went to EC.

“I just trusted the process and stayed on my grind throughout my four years here and it’s worked out really well.”

Now there is a Crutcher atop the career scoring board at two of Elyria’s high schools. Nate Crutcher, who was in attendance to watch his son etch his name in EC’s record books, is the leading career scorer at the defunct Elyria West.

“I told him to stay confident and be proud of all that he accomplished,” Nate Crutcher said. “That’s what I always told him — act like you’ve been there before. There ain’t no reason to act obnoxious out there on the court. He earned this. He’s a wonderful son and I’m very proud of him.”

The officials stopped the game on Crutcher’s basket — which put EC ahead of Clearview, 45-38 — to present him with the basketball and soak in a standing ovation from the Panther faithful. He added a late jumper just before the end of the game to give him 23 and cement his team’s 8-0 run to end the game.

“When he first came in, he was a skinny little ninth-grader, but we could tell we had something special about him,” EC coach Phil Kuchta said. “Obviously, we knew he had really good family genes overall, and it helped that

he grew a little bit and that he could really stroke the ball.

“In seven years I’ve been here, we’ve been fortunate to have two 1,000-point scorers and before that was 26 years since it had been done here. For that 51-year record to be broken here at home, I’m just really happy for Dorian and his family. He’s very deserving of this honor.”

Crutcher’s performance helped atone for a bad start for both him and his team. After jumping out to a 7-1 lead, the Clippers (15-6) reeled off 18 unanswered points to cap a 20-1 run. They held EC scoreless from the 4:52 mark of the first quarter until there was 4:30 left in the first half, putting them ahead, 21-8.

“We were able to get out in transition early on and make some things happen and get some transition baskets,” said Clearview assistant coach Rob Collier, who stood in for a grieving John Szalay following the death of his brother earlier in the week. “But we went away from that. We started taking quick shots and we weren’t letting the offense work for us. They just really dominated us on the glass tonight (44-34). Those second and third shot attempts hurt us.

“We were playing with confidence, and I told them after the game we haven’t played with confidence in a week-and-a-half. We’ve got to find a way to make sure we’re getting back to that.”

It was a Crutcher 3-pointer that snapped that 18-0 run and lit a fire under his offense. Scoring six of his team’s 14 unanswered points, the Panthers took a 23-21 lead before a late 3-pointer from Jaylen Paschel gave Clearview a 24-23 halftime lead.

“It was a total team effort by our guys tonight,” Kuchta said. “Things didn’t go well at the start, and that’s a credit to Clearview. Give credit to senior Donovan Warfield for his effort guarding Javon Todd. He averages 16 a game and he held him to nine, and that was a key factor in us getting back into this game.”

EC outscored Clearview 33-18 in the second half to seal the victory on its final home game.

David Griffin came off the bench with 14 points, while Edward Wright II added 13 and Jarrod Logan had 7 and a game-high 15 rebounds for EC (11-12).

“This was our last home game of the regular season, so that’s also pretty good to set this record and pull off a big win for us,” Crutcher said. “I’m just happy we got to accomplish all of this in front of