Mentor runs past Elyria THE SCORE

ELYRIA » The Mentor Cardinals returned to the court for the first time, following an 11-day layoff. Luke Chicone, the team’s standout senior point guard, didn’t look one bit rusty though, as he scored 19 points and senior Steven Key scored 11 points to lead Mentor to a 72-59 win over Elyria.

Mentor, who hadn’t played since Jan. 9 due to a case of COVID-19 inside the program, trailed early on, but was in control for much of the night.

Elyria, which dropped to 3-6 with the loss and 1-4 in the Greater Cleveland Conference, had cut an 11-point Mentor lead to six on backto-back buckets by senior guard MarSaun Robinson.

The game turned in Mentor’s favor late in the

MENTOR 72, ELYRIA 59

second quarter. But thanks in part to two technical fouls on Elyria in the half’s final two minutes, Mentor went on a 10-3 run to take a 13-point lead into the half.

Mentor shot just 9-of-33 in the win, but it has not shot well from distance all season, Cardinals coach Bob Krazancic said after his team knocked off Elyria.

“We’re 4-0. We beat Medina by 11, but we haven’t shot well the entire year,” said Krziancic.

In Mentor’s other three wins, the Cardinals have shot 5-of-25, 8-of-29 and 10-of 31 from 3-point land, which usually leads a team to the losing column.

“I guess that’s the good thing. If we can start to shoot the basketball,” than

Mentor can probably count on going on a long tournament run, said Krizancic.

The play of Chicone helped overcome the cold shooting. He buried a 3-pointer to start the night and scored 10 points in the first quarter to help Mentor get off to a good start.

Elyria got a huge night from Robinson, who went toe-to-toe scoring with Chicone for much of the contest. Robinson finished the night with 20 points, many of which coming off nifty pull-up jump shots.

“He’s been getting those looks and tonight he was able to get them to go down.” Elyria coach Brett Larrick said of the effort by Robinson.

Omar Palos added 10 for Elyria.

The Pioneers got a nice performance out of Greg Mogus, who provided an inside presence with four blocks and nine points.