The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Eagles pull away in fourth, down Titans
Lorain coach John Rositano wanted the Titans to face some adversity this season, and they most certainly have.
The Titans (9-4) dropped their third straight game after falling to the St. Edward Eagles (10-1), 64-51, on Jan. 17 at Lorain High School.
Despite the loss, Rositano was upbeat and happy with his team’s effort, and excited to have forward Jordan Jackson back in the lineup.
Jackson missed the past
nine games due to injury.
“It’s like a puzzle and we’ve had missing pieces, but now we have all of the pieces back. So now it’s about putting the puzzle together,” Rositano said.
“It’s a process, it’s going to take time, but I saw a lot of positives out there. I saw (our) will to win (was) back and I saw us doing the right things. We grew as a team tonight. You play these teams to get better and we got better tonight.”
The Titans started off slow as they couldn’t get into a rhythm on offense.
St. Edward forced multiple turnovers and turned them into points on the offensive end. Both teams played to an 18-18 tie after one quarter.
In the second, Lorain’s Jamir Billings had the hot hand as he scored the team’s first nine points of the quarter.
Billings nailed three 3-pointers and tallied nine of his 12 total points, all of which came on 3-pointers, in the second quarter to give the Titans a spark.
“We were moving the ball, getting shots in rhythm and I was able to knock the shots down,” Billings said.
In the back half of the second quarter, both teams traded baskets and leads. There were three ties and six lead changes in the second quarter alone and St. Edward took a one point lead, 32-31, into the half.
At the beginning of the third quarter, the Eagles pushed their lead up to five, which was the largest of the game. Shortly after, St. Edward coach Eric Flannery received a technical foul after arguing a foul call. That gave Lorain two additional free throws on top of the two they received because of the foul, plus possession.
The Titans took full advantage as Aaron Whitehead knocked down all four
free throws and Seth Wilson, who led Lorain in scoring with 13 points, drained a shot to take a 39-38 lead. Wilson hit another shot on Lorain’s next possession to give the Titans a 41-38 lead and as a result, Flannery called a timeout.
“I did a great job of keeping the game close,” Flannery said. “In that timeout I told my guys ... I apologized and that was my fault. I let them back in it, you guys did a great job of getting the momentum and getting us the lead. I got them back into it and now it’s your job to save me and pull it back out. I’m proud of our guys for being able to do that.”
Out of the timeout, the Eagles responded with a 8-0 run of their own to take a 46-41 lead and they never looked back. St. Edward held the lead for the rest of the contest and led 5145 heading into the fourth quarter.
In the fourth, St. Edward pulled away by outscoring
Lorain 13-6 as the Titans struggled to make shots. The Eagles also locked in on defense to prevent the Titans from running their offense and getting into a rhythm. St. Edward’s Devontae Blanton led all scorers with 20 points and Zach Chatmon posted 17 for the Eagles.
“I thought late in the third and fourth quarter, there might have been a little fatigue,” Rositano said. “We started falling short (on our shots) a little bit, we started missing open shots we normally hit and we just couldn’t get over that hump. (St. Edward) is number two in the state for a reason. They are really good, well coached and they are going to probably be in Columbus again.”
Jackson was happy to be back in the lineup after practicing all week.
“It felt good especially after a full week of practice,” Jackson said. “Coach let me know that I would play
some conservative minutes and I just felt really good coming back from an injury that put me out for so long. Coming off the bench helped me instead of ... starting and thinking that I need to do too much.”
Jackson being on the floor was a pleasant sight for Rositano.
“He makes a difference,” Rositano said.
“He’s long, he can handle (the ball), get to the rim, he rebounds and he’s a three year starter for us who knows how to play. He’s a steady influence for us. Having him and all of the pieces back ... now it’s just a matter of us coaches putting the puzzle together. Normally I’m not excited after a loss but I’m excited because I see the potential we have moving forward. It was a start tonight.”
Up next, Lorain hosts Cleveland Central Catholic on Jan. 21, while St. Edward takes on Huntington Prep in Dayton on Jan. 18.