Cornerstone wins, Kenston

Cornerstone Christian battled with Chagrin Falls and posted a hard-fought 57-53 win, while Kenston couldn’t hold a lead against St. Ignatius in a 49-40 loss.

Cornerstone Christian’s regular-season finale at Chagrin Falls on Feb. 23, a matchup of teams with identical 14-7 records, provided one more valuable opportunity for both teams to take stock of where they stand headed to their respective postseason tournaments.

The Tigers, using the strong defensive effort that has been their calling card all season, led for the majority of the game and gave the state-ranked Patriots all they could handle. But Cornerstone caught up to its host in the second half and made enough plays down the stretch to prevail, 57-53.

Michael Bothwell and Kendall Saunders scored 17 points apiece to lead the Patriots, who trailed by seven at the half but rallied to knot the score on four occasions in the second half before taking the lead for good with just over four minutes to play.

“I give a whole lot of credit to Chagrin Falls, they played their hearts out and wanted this one badly,” Cornerstone coach Andy Weybrecht said. “They were physical, they were strong inside, they played some man and some zone, they mixed up their defenses well. I’m glad our guys were resilient. It’s kind of been a theme for us this year — we did not play a good first half, but we had the resilience and were able to make enough plays down the stretch to win.”

Chagrin Falls (14-8) controlled the pace and controlled the game in the first half. On the offensive end, the Tigers were patient, making extra passes and setting up backdoor cuts to the basket or hitting open outside shots. Defensively, they battled with the Patriots inside and held them to just eight field goals in the first 16 minutes, while taking a 29-22 lead into the half.

Cornerstone (15-7) rallied in the second half behind Bothwell and Saunders. Bothwel created havoc on defense and found his teammates on offense.