Blanton leads Pioneers to share of GCC title

Never a team to shy away from the dramatics, Elyria captured a share of the Greater Cleveland Conference championship Feb. 24 with a 76-73 overtime win on the road at Solon.

After trailing by as many as 16 early in the third quarter, Elyria went on a 15-8 run to cut the Solon lead to nine heading into the final eight minutes of regulation and outscored the Comets, 17-8, in the fourth to send the game to overtime.

Down, 73-72, with 34 seconds to play, junior Justin Koepp scored on a putback to give the Pioneers the lead, and on the ensuing Solon possession, Dez Brown grabbed a rebound and lobbed a pass to a wideopen Josh Lotko to seal the win and the conference title.

“We’ve been down some games before but we know how to handle it. We know how to come back,” Koepp said. “We rally together. This is a good team. We’re family. We just fight together and that’s all it takes.”

The last time Elyria and Solon met on Jan. 13, the Comets scored 28 points in the first quarter before the Pioneers charged back for an 83-74 win.

This time around, there was a bit of deja vu on the Elyria bench as Solon jumped out to a quick 27-13 first quarter lead, and the Pioneers never led in 32 minutes of regulation.

“We knew (Solon) was going to come out hot, but I don’t think we knew (they would) come out that hot,” Elyria senior Antonio Blanton said. “(Solon) just couldn’t miss shots and ... they had 20 points just off turnovers. But Coach just said to not get down on ourselves and just keep fighting back. I just think us as a team, we just kept fighting hard and came out with the win.

“We just told everybody keep playing hard. Don’t give up no matter what the score was. Coach said, ‘Don’t look at the scoreboard, just keep playing.’ ... That helped out a lot. That’s just fighting. We’re a mature group now, most of us have (been together) three, four years now, and we just kept fighting.”

Blanton finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds, while Koepp had 14 points and 13 rebounds and Lotko had 13 points and six rebounds.

The Pioneers had to overcome some adversity late in the second half when Lotko and Blanton each picked up their fourth fouls.

“To play in overtime with two guys with four fouls, your two leading scorers, and to be smart defensively and for Dez Brown to get the defensive stops on (Solon’s Sincere) Carry,” Elyria coach Brett Larrick said. “I mean, I’m not sure if anyone can guard (Carry) in the state, and Dez Brown, I won’t say he was able to guard him but able to try to contain him some.

“This is a team from the start, to be in this conference and from Day 1 win your first game and be in first place and hold it to the end and not have to depend on anybody in this league, I told them, ‘From Day 1 you were the best team in this conference and I wouldn’t trade this team for anything.’”

Elyria finishes the season 18-4 (11-3 GCC) and shares the conference title with Mentor (16-5, 11-3).

The Pioneers will host the winner of Midview Strongsville in a Division I sectional final March 4.

Notes

Blanton scored his 1,000th point in the Pioneers’ win, becoming the ninth player in Elyria history to reach the mark.

After the basket, the officials paused the game as Blanton was recognized for his accomplishment.

“It makes you have chills through your body,” Blanton said of being recognized. “You feel good like, ‘Wow, I really accomplished something special.’ A thousand points, that’s unbelievable. It felt really good.”

The senior has 1,014 career points.

“It’s a great accomplishment, a great individual accomplishment,” Elyria coach Brett Larrick said. “A very classy move, a very kind move on (Solon’s) part, because our history at Elyria high, we have nine (to score 1,000 points), that’s pretty special company.”