The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Avon Lake rolls, Olmsted Falls reigns
Avon Lake blows open a lopsided victory at Westlake, and Olmsted Falls withstands a late rally bid to pull away from North Ridgeville. Joe Magill amd Matt Lofgren, respectively, were on the scene.
Revenge came to the forefront Jan. 28 as Avon Lake turned the tables on Westlake in a Southwestern Conference game.
Six weeks ago, when the Shoremen were coming off a long run in the football playoffs, the Demons rode into Avon Lake and came away with a 74-68 victory. This time it was all Avon Lake, as the Shoremen dominated both sides of the ball to take an easy 73-53 victory. Avon Lake is now 9-5 overall and 8-3 in SWC play, while the Demons fall to 10-5 and 8-4.
“Our football guys hadn’t been there for long,” said Ryan Shinko, who led the way with 13 points. “It was our second game, and we’d had about eight to 10 practices. They got us the first time. They played well, and we played well. This time we played even better and we got them.”
The domination was so complete Avon Lake never trailed and built the lead up to as many as 30 points before clearing the bench midway through the final quarter. The Shoremen also held Westlake without a field goal in the second period.
“That’s a great team win,” Avon Lake coach Eric Smith said. “Right from the get-go, they were focused on what we needed to get done. Offensively, I thought we were really good. But what I was really, really proud of was how we defended. I thought we did a really good job of getting up into shooters. We found people, we switched screens, we took away their dribble-drive game, which was huge.”
The Shoremen didn’t do anything special on either end of the floor. No gimmick defenses, no tricked-up offensive plays. They just played hard and executed their game plan the way it was designed.
“That’s a senior team,” Smith said. “We have a nine-man rotation, and seven of them are seniors. That’s what you expect to do on the road, to go out there and do these types of things. There wasn’t anybody who stood out tonight. I thought they all played good.”
On the other hand, Westlake coach Jeff Huber could only shake his head and wonder why his team fell so flat. The game’s early moments were close, with Avon Lake holding a 10-9 lead midway through the first. But a 16-5 run gave the Shoremen a 26-14 lead at the end of the quarter. It was more of the same in the second, which ended with Avon Lake holding a 38-21 lead.
The lead only got bigger in the second half. The third quarter ended with the Shoremen holding a 62-37 lead, and midway through the final quarter it was 73-43.
“I thought they really came out and played a really good game,” Huber said.