Elyria falls out of first with loss to Cardinals

Elyria coach Brett Larrick was not pleased with the performance of the Pioneers, who dropped a key game at Mentor on Feb. 17, 61-49.

Elyria had won four straight games and 11 of 13 prior to the loss that left them at 16-4 overall and 9-3 in the Greater Cleveland Conference and knocked them out of first place in the conference.

“Tonight, I saw a Mentor team that wasn’t in first place and really wanted to get there,” Larrick said. “They were more aggressive than us. They wanted it more than us and it showed.”

Senior guard Antonio Blanton had a team-high 13 points for Elyria. Senior forward Josh Lotko added 12 points.

Mentor coach Bob Krizancic was extremely pleased with his players and the effort they gave.

Sophomore guard Manning Trubisky finished with a game-high 23 points for the Cardinals, who improved to 14-5 overall and moved into first place in the GCC at 10-3.

Junior forward Tadas Tatarunas chipped in with 11

points for the Cardinals.

“I love have-to-win situations and tonight definitely was one of them,” Krizancic said. “We played as hard as we have all season.”

The Cardinals set the tone early, racing to an 10-2 lead. Trubisky accounted for six of those points on a 3-pointer, layup and a free throw.

“My teammates got me the ball in the right spots and I let the game come to me,” Trubisky said.

When the Pioneers narrowed the gap to 14-12 early in the second quarter, Trubisky asserted himself again with two 3-pointers, an intermediate jumper and pair of free throws as the Cardinals carried a 3118 lead into the locker room at halftime.

It was the lowest scoring half of the season for Elyria.

“This conference is a grind every night. You can’t afford to play like we did tonight, especially at a place like Mentor,” Larrick said.

In the second half, the Cardinals kept the Pioneers at arm’s length with a combination of timely scoring, good ball-handling and tough defense.