The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Titans fall at Bedford
The Lorain Titans are in a funk.
A 3-pointer at the buzzer was missed as Lorain fell at Bedford (6-7, 3-3 LEL), 39-37, in a Lake Erie League matchup Jan. 28.
The loss to Bedford is the Titans’ fifth loss in six games, and it drops them to 10-6 overall and 4-3 in the LEL.
“I thought we played very well,” Lorain coach John Rositano said. “We made the extra pass. We were moving the basketball. But we just didn’t make shots. They sat in their zone and let us play horse. At some point, you have to make shots to win a basketball game, especially on the road.”
The Jan. 28 game between Lorain and Bedford was vastly different from the first meeting between the two teams Dec. 10. Lorain won that game, 61-45, in the Lake Erie League opener for both teams.
Bedford controlled the game in the second meeting by slowing down the pace on offense, which prevented Lorain from getting out in transition. They also utilized a suffocating zone defense, which kept the Titans out of the paint.
“It’s just one of those nights (and) we were in a funk,” Deonte Benejan, who led Lorain with 12 points, said. “We couldn’t really hit anything. We just have to get back into the gym, continue to get up shots, continue to work hard in practice and get back to it tomorrow.”
The Bearcats led, 11-10, after a back-and-forth first quarter. Both teams continued to trade baskets for the majority of the second quarter before Lorain took control of the lead. After taking a 21-19 lead toward the end of the second, the Titans held onto the lead until midway through the fourth quarter.
Lorain had a solid start to the third as it used an 8-0 run to take a 10-point lead at 31-21. Jordan Jackson (10 points) and Benejan drained a pair of 3-pointers to propel the run. The Titans were able to penetrate Bedford’s zone defense as they drove into the lane and kicked the ball out to their shooters on the perimeter.
“Shots finally started falling for us,” Benejan said. “Then they started taking away me in the corner and Jordan (Jackson) ... they started taking us both away after we hit a couple of shots, so it was difficult to convert off of that. We’ll take the loss and learn from it.”
The fourth quarter is where things went south for Lorain.
Bedford regrouped and locked in on defense once again. The Bearcats denied any attempts at penetration from the Titans and forced several turnovers. Bedford turned the giveaways into points on the other end as they outscored Lorain, 9-2, in the fourth quarter.
Despite its struggles, Lorain still had a chance to win the game at the end. They inbounded the ball with 3.1 seconds left and passed to Seth Wilson, who shot a running 3-pointer that bounced off the back of the rim.
Wilson turned toward his teammates after the shot missed and stood there for a couple of seconds in disbelief.
“We just missed shots. We shot 20-something% from the field,” Jackson said. “We just have to knock down shots.”
Chaze Harris racked up a game-high 16 points, and Jaylon Clark tallied nine for Bedford.
Bedford coach Pete Priola was impressed by his team’s defensive effort and how his team held Lorain to just two points in the fourth quarter.
“Any team, let alone Lorain, holding them to that ... it could have been a little bit an off night shooting but our guys closed out hard, switched hard and limited them to only one shot when they got a shot in the second half,” Priola said.
Up next, Lorain looks to regroup at home against Shaw, while Bedford travels to Warrensville Heights on Jan. 31.