Since Elyria has been in the Southwestern Conference, its matchups with Avon Lake have been decided by four points or less over four games.
The Jan. 6 matchup was no different. As the Pioneers outscored the Shoremen, 23-5, in the third quarter, they avoided the Shoremen’s last-minute rally bid to come away with a 61-57 win and snapped their five-game winning streak.
“Any win on the road in (the SWC) is a great win,” Elyria coach Brett Larrick said. “I thought our guys showed some fight that maybe in Christmas break we wouldn’t have fought (like we did). I was glad to see that fight in that third quarter.”
Elyria held a 58-47 lead late in the fourth quarter. That was until Avon Lake guard Tyler Birk (23 points) scored the team’s final 10 points in a 10-0 run to cut the deficit to 58-57.
Birk scores Avon Lakes last 10 points to make it a 1pt game. One of them was this three@MJournalSports @AvonLakeSports @ElyriaAthletics pic.twitter.com/iiwywPxQbu
— Mark Perez-Krywany 🤓 (@MarkPerezK10) January 10, 2024
The Pioneers put their faith in Jayden Crutcher (18 points) to sink a pair of free throws.
Birk fired a 3-point shot on the other end that was just off the mark.
“They are going to play hard, and they are going to play to the final buzzer,” Avon Lake coach Eric Smith said. “I thought Tyler’s final shot with about 16 seconds left and we were down three, I thought it was in and right on the line. I thought it was a good shot and a good look. I couldn’t ask for a better shot.”
Crutcher stepped to the free-throw line again to put Elyria up by two possessions for the win.
“I knew that I had to make the free throws, so I locked in. I locked the crowd out and focused on the hoop,” Crutcher said.
According to Larrick, the first half of basketball was “as ugly as it could have got.” However, he liked its dominant third-quarter performance.
“It’s not the ideal start, but I thought that we scrapped defensively for the most part and held it to a two-possession (ballgame),” he said. “That third quarter, I thought, might have been the most aggressive we’ve played defensively.”
Elyria outscores Avon Lake 23-5 in the third quarter to lead 46-33@MJournalSports @AvonLakeSports @ElyriaAthletics pic.twitter.com/3FPdjYvF7w
— Mark Perez-Krywany 🤓 (@MarkPerezK10) January 10, 2024
Laron Anderson was one of Elyria’s top defenders on the court with a team-high three steals, with his six points.
Elyria controls the boards to lead 40-30 in Q3@MJournalSports @AvonLakeSports @ElyriaAthletics pic.twitter.com/ZznPLRZQ2o
— Mark Perez-Krywany 🤓 (@MarkPerezK10) January 10, 2024
“In the first half, we came out a little slow. We just had to pick everything up. I took the leadership (role). I was being one of the first guys to the ball, trying to get the energy up and get our team back on pace,” he said.
Elyria also had five of its 13 offensive rebounds in the third quarter that eventually led to second-chance points. B.J. Todd led the team with six rebounds, but it was a team effort to outrebound Avon Lake, 32-21.
“In practice, we work (at rebounding) a lot. Since the first couple of games, we weren’t really a strong rebounding team. We worked on that a lot. Tonight, it just happened to come together,” Anderson said.
Crutcher was Elyria’s leading scorer, as he came into the game with an 18.1 points per game average. Five other Pioneers had five or more points.
Jayden Crutcher creates off the dribble to cut ALs lead to 13-8 at the end of Q1@MJournalSports @AvonLakeSports @ElyriaAthletics pic.twitter.com/vgbyOImtvt
— Mark Perez-Krywany 🤓 (@MarkPerezK10) January 10, 2024
Along with Birk, Peyton Lerch (13 points) and Cameron Moore (11) were Avon Lake’s top scorers. In the end, the difference was the rebounding.
“I thought we did an outstanding job rebounding the basketball in the first half,” Smith said. “In the second half, we didn’t rebound the ball the way that we should have. That’s been our problem all year long. In the games that we’ve won, we’ve defended and rebound the ball pretty well. I thought we defended really good. … There were too many second-chance shots, especially in the third quarter. Offensively, we didn’t make any shots.”
Avon Lake lost its first game since its third game of the season, as it dropped to 5-4 (2-2 in SWC). After Elyria defeated North Ridgeville, 53-49, it won its second consecutive game for a 5-4 (3-1 in SWC) record.
Avon Lake and Elyria will play their next games Jan. 12. The Shoremen will travel to Olmsted Falls and Elyria will host Amherst.
THE SCORE
Elyria 61, Avon Lake 57
