The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Present packs punch for Lake Catholic
Point guard Horton returns to starting lineup as Cougars rout visiting South
Lake Catholic won a district title last season as then-freshmen Luka Eller and Luke Frazier provided a glimpse into the Cougars’ promising future.
But Lake Catholic advanced to a regional semifinal without its point guard.
Brandon Horton entered Coach Matt Moran’s starting lineup as a sophomore two seasons ago and was penciled in to start again last year. Then in the preseason, Horton tore his ACL.
Frazier took over duties as the Cougars’ primary ballhandler, finished as Lake Catholic’s second-leading scorer and Horton missed the entire season.
“That’s a tough pill to swallow,” Moran said. “But he’s handled it with the most class. He’s a great teammate, and I think those two on the floor, I think we’re actually going to be more successful with those two playing together.”
Moran was right, at least as it pertained to Lake Catholic’s first game of 2017-18.
A healthy Horton returned to the Cougars’ starting lineup as they beat South, 76-54, on Dec. 5.
Horton fit seamlessly with Lake Catholic’s proficient sophomore scorers, as Eller led the Cougars with 19 points and Frazier added 14.
“I waited all last year,” Horton said. “I thought it was going to be a bad experience watching them, but it made me get closer to them. I thought I was going to feel out of place, but I’m back where I belong.”
Horton and Frazier, former elementary school teammates in Perry, provided surehanded play in the backcourt. Horton worked well with Eller in screen-rolls and set Eller up for a few of his baskets.
Horton made a pair of 3-pointers and scored eight points.
“It honestly looked like he didn’t skip a beat,” Moran said. “He actually got a little quicker, and that’s huge. He worked on the game.”
Horton and his teammates overwhelmed the Rebels with effort. Lake Catholic’s offensive rebounding created second chances on many of its missed shots, the Cougars applied fullcourt defense pressure and beat South on almost every 50-50 play.
“We like to do the dirty work,” Horton said. “Our practices are tough. They make it tough on us, the coaches do, and it all works out.”
Lake Catholic opened the game with a 13-0 run as the Rebels didn’t score until 3:50 remained in the quarter. The Cougars led, 25-10, at the end of the first before Rico Small’s 3-pointer pulled the Rebels within 36-25 late in the half. Lake Catholic allowed South to come no closer.
The Cougars held the Rebels to seven points in the third quarter, and led by as many as 28 points while Moran was able to empty his bench late in the fourth quarter.
Norm Hughes made five 3-pointers to lead the Rebels with 21 points in Coach Doug Barber’s first game as South’s head coach. Barber said his next practice will be a tough one.
“We got smoked on the glass,” Barber said. “We just got outplayed. They won all the hustle balls, they were the team with more energy, more effort out there and that really was the difference. They just played harder than we did.”
South opens Western Reserve Conference play on Dec. 8 against Riverside, when Barber hopes to see better effort from his team.
Barber will count Hughes, one of the WRC’s most talented scorers, and his fellow seniors to make more of the plays that didn’t show up in Lake Catholic’s box score but helped account for its 22-point victory.
“Norm’s our point guard,” Barber said. “He’s our facilitator — we rely on him to score. We rely on him to do a lot of things, and he’s going to be a pivotal player for us moving forward.”