The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Avon Lake survives in final seconds
OLMSTED FALLS » Now that the conference race has been put to bed in the Southwestern Conference, it’s time to look toward the postseason tournament.
Host Olmsted Falls and Avon Lake played what both coaches felt was an ideal game for tournament preparation Feb. 21, with the Shoremen holding on for a 46-45 victory when Charlie Ciolek’s driving layup bounced off the rim as the horn sounded.
Avon Lake, 14-8 and seeded No. 5 in the Elyria Catholic Division I District Tournament, next hosts North Ridgeville on Feb. 26. The eighth-seeded Bulldogs, 10-12, host No. 9 Avon on the same day.
“This was a great game for tournament prep,” said Avon Lake coach Eric Smith. “Every game’s going to be down to the wire. You’ve got to execute, and you’ve got to do good things offensively and defensively, and I thought we did that tonight. We did enough to win. We talk about survive and advance, that’s tournament basketball. This was a great prep for us for Wednesday night.”
Despite the loss, Olmsted Falls coach Chris DeLisio
also spoke of how the game will help his team get ready for tournament play.
“As long as our guys are fighting and working and doing the things that we’re trying to practice, we try not to judge by the scoreboard,” he said. “That’s always been. One year ago, five years ago, 10 years ago. That’s the process of what we put on the floor.”
Starting an all-senior lineup on senior night, the Bulldogs scored the first five points of the game, but once Avon Lake took a 6-5 lead, the Shoremen never trailed. The lead got as big as 13 late in the third quarter, but Olmsted Falls kept fighting back.
It appeared Avon Lake might finally have the game in hand with 4 minutes, 23 seconds remaining after Hunter Simons scored off an offensive rebound to give the visitors a 46-34 lead. But, actually, that’s when things started getting interesting.
The Bulldogs switched to a 1-2-2 half court trap for the remainder of the game, and Avon Lake didn’t score the rest of the way. The Shoremen turned the ball over a couple times against the trap and were called for two offensive fouls.
“We got a little stagnant offensively,” Smith said. “Give them credit. They came out and tried to be aggressive with the trap. We missed a few shots, we got called for two offensive fouls going to the basket, and I’m not sure about either one of them, but that’s basketball.”
While the Shoremen went into an offensive funk, Olmsted Falls finally woke up. Or, more specifically, Drew Sagerman woke up. The senior hit four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter for 12 of his game-high 15 points, hitting 5 of 8 3-pointers in the game.
Sagerman’s final long bomb came with 1:16 to play and pulled the Bulldogs to within a point, 46-45. There was no more scoring for the remainder of the game, but that doesn’t mean nothing happened. Nate Murtaugh, who led Avon Lake with 13 points—all in the second half—was called for an offensive foul with 41 seconds to play.
“It was a charge on me,” Murtaugh said. “We needed to slow down a little bit, so it was my fault. We need to stay together in close situations like that.”
The Shoremen never regained possession of the ball, as Olmsted Falls ran down the clock, calling timeouts with 34 seconds, 18 seconds and 5.6 seconds to play. Each time the Bulldogs tried to run a specific play but were stymied.