Lorain’s resolve is as strong as steel

Titans endure lineup changes, losing skid on way to school’s first trip to D-I final four

Prior to the regional tournament, I covered 17 of Lorain’s 25 games this season.

I’ve seen games decided by a free throw in the final seconds. I’ve seen 30-point blowouts, and I saw the Titans go through a three-game losing streak in early February — amazingly, the program’s longest losing streak since the 201314 season.

I’ve followed the team as closely as anyone this season. After the Titans barely survived the No. 11 seed,

Strongsville, in a district final, I didn’t expect to be following them to the upcoming state tournament on March 23.

But that’s exactly where I’ll be.

It’s been a tumultuous season at Lorain despite its recent success.

The starting lineup was easily the most glaring challenge in the preseason after the Titans graduated their entire starting five from a year ago. Even as the wins piled up, it was still an issue as the roster continued to fluctuate as late as mid-February.

Looking back, the starters who took the floor in the season-opener at Vermilion on Dec. 5 are vastly different than the ones from this weekend’s regional championship game. But they, along with the seven others on the roster, are the ones who have stayed the course when no one gave them a shot to win past the district level, much less backto-back upsets of stateranked teams to earn the school’s first-ever trip to the final four since the Lorain City Schools consolidated into one high school.

They’ve done it without nearly as much flash and attention as Lorain teams of the past few years, too, which might be the most impressive part about this gritty Titans squad.

Sure, juniors Devon Grant and Taevon PierreLouis have put on incredible performance after incredible performance and stunned opponents with skill and athleticism. Take Grant’s offensive outburst in a regional semifinal win over St. Edward as a prime example. But it’s almost like the wins have come thanks to sheer force of will more than anything.

The Titans want to win. They believe they can win. They whole-heartedly feel — and they’ll tell you this themselves — they can beat anyone when the team is jelling. Count them out and they’ll prove you wrong.

They certainly proved me and countless others wrong over the past week. That just might be the 2017-18 Lorain legacy.

All over the city people look back fondly over the past few seasons, especially the electrifying 2014-15 season in which the Titans went undefeated before a heartbreaking loss to none other than St. Edward in a regional semifinal.

But after all that, it took a group of underdogs (don’t say it to their faces, though) to do what no other team in school history has been able to do.

The Titans are off to the school’s first-ever final four — the first in city history since 1988 — with hopes of earning Lorain’s first state championship in boys basketball since 1923.

No matter the result of this week’s state semifinal, this team not only made memories, it has made history.

Reach McNees at MMcNees@MorningJournal. com. On Twitter: @MarissaNM

ERIC BONZAR — THE MORNING JOURNAL Lorain forward Taevon Pierre-Louis bodies his way past Toledo St. John’s Vincent Williams Jr. on March 17 in Toledo.

ERIC BONZAR — THE MORNING JOURNAL Lorain’s Devon Grant drives past St. John’s Dimitrios Mitsopoulos on March 17 in Toledo.

Marissa McNees Columnist

ERIC BONZAR—THE MORNING JOURNAL Devon Grant (3) and David Weatherington celebrate after defeating Toledo St. John’s, 47-44, in a Division I regional final game on March 17.