ELYRIA — It had the eerie feeling of deja vu Friday night at Elyria.
The Pioneers, just as they did Tuesday at Strongsville, built a solid lead against Lakewood with great defense and unselfish offense through three quarters only to see it unravel over the final eight minutes.
But unlike Tuesday, Elyria took care of business at the free throw line and came away with a 60-53 victory over the Rangers to improve to 12-4 overall and 4-3 in the Northeast Ohio Conference. Lakewood (8-8, 2-5 NOC) nearly recovered from an 18-point deficit.
“I was thinking about that,” said Elyria center Seryrell Davis as Lakewood scored the first nine points of the final quarter. “We had to let it fade away and try and win the game. Strongsville, I don’t know what happened.”
What happened Tuesday was Elyria let an 11-point lead slip away. Friday, the lead appeared pretty safe at 50-32 as the Pioneers closed out the third quarter on an 8-0 run.
“Same thing,” Elyria coach Bob Walsh said. “We played very well for three quarters, defended really well and did just about everything right for three quarters. Fourth quarter we kind of went south on what we were doing as far as defending goes.
“We got out of rhythm in the fourth quarter.”
Lakewood whittled the margin to 51-45 at the 2:33 mark before Davis took a pass from Travis Noble for a layin for Elyria’s first field goal of the quarter. The Pioneers, unlike Tuesday when they were just 7-of-19 at the foul line, managed to hit four straight free throws to push the lead back to 59-49 with 27 seconds to play.
Davis, a 6-foot-4 senior, had his second straight strong game with 18 points, giving him 35 in the past two games. He’s made 16 of 18 field-goal attempts with seven stickbacks and 19 rebounds overall.
“What was discouraging to me most,” said Lakewood coach John Silva, “we thought we could establish our post presence. But low and behold, Elyria’s post player (Davis) scores 18 points. He certainly was a presence inside. He hurt us down there.”
Demetrius Dalton, Promis Cabbil and Rayshawn Camel did enough damage with their shooting, ball-handling and passing skills to build what proved to be an insurmountable lead. Dalton, who ran down a half-dozen rebounds, led the scoring with 19 points, while Cabbil and Camel combined for another 15.
“We have to close games out,” Walsh said, “as far as maintaining the tempo. Keep doing what we were doing the first three quarters.”
Lakewood’s 6-6 center Kevin Knab led the Rangers with 18 points and eight rebounds, but Elyria shot better than 50 percent from the field (24-of-46) and knocked down 11 of 12 free throws until missing its final three attempts when the outcome was settled.
“Free throws are an important part of the game,” said Davis, who has struggled from the line this year but cashed in both of his attempts Friday. “If I’m scoring and get fouled, I have to make my free throws. Coach has been working with me on arching my shot. I’ve been working on it.”
Contact Tim Gebhardt at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.

Elyria 60, Lakewood 53

LAKEWOOD (53): Patrick Barrett 2-4-9, Kevin Knab 7-4-18, Brian Evans 1-0-3, Dan Shannon 3-2-10, Joe Mastrodonato 3-2-10, Joshua Reagan 3-2-8, Josh Larney 2-1-5, Edward Lynch 0-0-0, Jay Toole 0-0-0. Totals 18-13-53.
ELYRIA (60): Promis Cabbil 3-5-11, Demetrius Dalton 8-3-19, Rayshawn Camel 2-0-4, Seryrell Davis 8-2-18, Travis Noble 3-1-8, Mykel Williams 0-0-0, Michael Higginbotham 0-0-0, Ricky Smallwood 0-0-0, John Yeaples 0-0-0. Totals 24-11-60.
Lakewood     12    11    9    21    —    53
Elyria        13    19    18    10    —    60
Three-point goals: Lakewood 4-15 (Shannon 2, Evans, Barrett), Elyria 1-8 (Noble). Field Goals: Lakewood 18-46 (39 percent), Elyria 24-46 (52 percent). Free Throws: Lakewood  (76 percent), Elyria 11-15 (73 percent). Rebounds: Lakewood 30 (Knab 8), Elyria 21 (Dalton 6). Turnovers: Lakewood 19, Elyria 14. Fouls: Lakewood 16, Elyria 15. Fouled Out: Evans.
Junior Varsity: Elyria 44-39.

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