The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Bay, Elyria Catholic no longer in state run
The Bay Rockets boys and Elyria Catholic Panthers girls basketball teams’ seasons ended on March 9. Marissa McNees and Matt Lofgren have the details.
“They’ve won it before, they’ve been here before, they’re a storied program and they’ve got a lot of history over there, very wellcoached and they’ve got good players.”
CCC coach Jordan Duke on Bay
Bay gave top-seeded Cleveland Central Catholic its toughest test of the postseason, but the Ironmen went on a offensive tear in the fourth quarter to beat the reigning Division II North Ridgeville District champion Rockets, 53-40, March 9 behind senior Taryl Davis’ double-double. Central Catholic advances to the regional tournament where it will face the winner of the Ada District in a semifinal matchup March 14. Bay was over-matched in seemingly every way the entire game, but stayed aggressive on both ends of the floor to keep the game within reach. Trailing, 3533, heading into the fourth quarter, senior Erik Painter hit a 3-pointer in the opening seconds to give the Rockets a one-point lead. Unfortunately, the Rockets would score a mere four points the rest of the way while Central Catholic exploded for 18 points en route to its first district championship since 2016-17. “We’ve played in big games all year long. Our schedule’s very tough,” Central Catholic coach Jordan Duke said. “We play a great game every night so we didn’t waver, we didn’t panic or anything like that because we play great games all year long. That prepared us not to get worried about it and to keep playing.” Davis led the Ironmen with 18 points and 12 of the team’s 38 total rebounds, and Jaden Williams and Trevon Wells each had 11 points. Painter was the only player to reach double figures for Bay (18-7). The senior scored a team-high 15 points while Cade Gergye grabbed 10 of the Rockets’ 19 boards. Bay will graduate eight seniors from this season’s team including the entire starting lineup.
“They’ve won it before, they’ve been here before, they’re a storied program and they’ve got a lot of history over there, very well-coached and they’ve got good players,” Duke said of the Rockets. “Our guys have never been a part of this before. We may be the one seed but I got brand new guys doing this so they were a little nervous and we couldn’t finish early but we ended up pulling through. That was the biggest difference, just understanding that they’re a good team and we had to make sure we came to play.”