The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
TITANS’ PRESSURE SMOTHERS EAGLES
Lorain romps in final home contest of the regular season
Lorain has touted its defensive prowess all season and a Feb. 20 win over Avon was simply more of the same.
The Titans’ second-half pressure overwhelmed the visiting Eagles and Lorain picked up a 7145 win in its final home game of the regular season to improve to 16-5 with one game left before the postseason officially begins.
Both teams got off to a slow start and the Titans held a slim 29-23 lead at halftime, but Lorain outscored Avon (11-10) by 20 in the second half and never let the Eagles gain even the slightest momentum.
“As the game wore on, I thought our pressure, not only in the full court but in the half court, took (Avon) out of some of the things they wanted to do,” Lorain coach John Rositano said. “When we can score without going to halfcourt defenses, then we’re just that much better.
“We had two or three run-outs
in a row, six straight points without going through any defense, and when you can do that, you’re going to win a lot of games.”
Avon, coming off a win over Amherst that saw 15 3-pointers by six different players, struggled to get in any type of flow on offense.
The Eagles shot 11 of 46 from the field (24 percent) compared to Lorain’s 25 of 52 (48 percent) and managed a mere three field goals in the entire second half. Junior Dean Emerine made each of Avon’s three 3-pointers for the game — all in the first half.
Emerine finished with 15 points and Ryan Maloy added 13 points, seven rebounds and a pair of assists for Avon.
“I thought we did a great job in the first half just kind of controlling the tempo a little bit and then it got away from us towards the end of the third quarter,” Avon coach Kevin Sapara said. “(Lorain) went on a big run in the fourth and it was kind of hard for us to fight back. We had great effort, we just didn’t execute the way we wanted to on offense.
“(Lorain) got a lot of second-chance points and breakaways and it was something we really tried to key on, getting back on defense, but give it to (Lorain). They did what they intended to do today.”
Four players scored in double-figures for Lorain, including its two seniors. Jaiden Sledge scored a season-best 16, including four 3s while David Weatherington chipped in 10 points.
Sledge nailed his first 3 less than 20 seconds into the game and turned out easily his best performance of the season in what was also his first start.
“All my butterflies went out of me and I just felt good from there,” Sledge said of his first 3-pointer. “My teammates try to get me the ball as much as they can and I tried to score as much as I can. I was shooting my shots in rhythm so that’s why they were falling.”
Taevon Pierre-Louis added 17 points and seven rebounds, Devon Grant had 16 points and Jordan Jack- son added 10 rebounds for Lorain.