ELYRIA — It was “Seniors Night” at Elyria Catholic on Wednesday night and the seniors embraced their night on the Coliseum court.
Seniors Joe Fitch and Cody Schuster scored 19 and 14 points, respectively, to spark the Panthers to a 68-57 come-from-behind victory over Padua in North Coast League action.
It was much-needed win for Elyria Catholic (5-14, 2-10), which snapped a seven-game losing streak.
Padua (3-16, 2-10) outscored the Panthers in each of the first three quarters and led 40-33 midway through the third before EC started its rally.
Led by Fitch’s nine points and four rebounds in the fourth quarter, the Panthers outscored the Bruins 24-8 in the crucial final period to win going away.
Paul Kubuski’s two free throws put EC ahead for good, 52-50, with 6:10 left in the game. Before Padua scored a meaningless layup with five seconds left, the Panthers had scored 12 straight points.
Besides the seniors’ solid play, two key ingredients in the win were shooting and rebounding. EC made a sizzling 55 percent from the field — to just 34 percent for the Bruins — and had a 37-31 edge on the boards.
“My two seniors did a tremendous job tonight in a lot of ways,” Elyria Catholic coach Alan Januzzi said. “Both played smart and made good decisions. And as a team we played great defense in the fourth quarter. Our kids found themselves down seven in the third quarter and in a losing streak, but they didn’t pack it in. They kept playing hard. That’s a great tribute to them.”
Fitch has been a key figure in three of EC’s five victories this year. He scored 22 in the Midview win and 25 against Avon before his 19 Wednesday. Against Avon he also had a big fourth quarter, scoring 11.
“For some reason we haven’t played four good quarters all year,” Padua coach Joe Guilfoyle said. “We had the lead early in the fourth quarter and instead of taking high-percentage shots we started taking bad shots from outside.”
• SENIOR TIME: Six Elyria Catholic seniors connected with athletics were honored with their parents before the game: Joe Fitch (basketball), Cody and Jacob Schuster (basketball), Alyssa Baptiste (cheerleading), Grace Canon (cheerleading) and Alexis Sigrist (bowling).
Contact Jerry Rombach at 329-7137 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.

Elyria Catholic 68, Padua 57 

PADUA (57): Sam Climer 6-2-16, Mike D’Alesio 5-0-13, Tim Stakolich 2-2-8, Steve Wido 1-4-6, Luke Toth 2-0-5, Neal Rusnak 2-0-4, Matt Stuczynski 1-0-2, Kevin Stuczynski 1-0-2, Andrew Polomsky 0-1-1. Totals 20-9-57.
ELYRIA CATHOLIC (68): Joe Fitch 8-3-19, Kevin Fentner 5-6-19, Cody Schuster 7-2-14, Paul Kubuski 4-4-12, Ryan Taylor 0-2-2, Spencer Roule 1-0-2, Adam Kirsch 0-0-0, Joe Januzzi 0-0-0. Totals 25-15-68.
Padua    15    18    16    8    —    57
EC    14    15    15    24    —    68
Three point goals—Padua 8 of 20 (D’Alesio 3, Stakolich 2, Climer 2, Toth), EC 3 of 7 (Fentner 2); Field goals—Padua 20 of 58 (34 percent), EC 25 of 45 (55 percent); Free throws—Padua 9 of 14, EC 15 of 21; Rebounds—Padua 31 (Wido 7), EC 37 (Kubuski 8, Schuster 7, Fitch 6); Turnovers—Padua 8, EC 12; Fouls—Padua 16 (Stakolich fouled out), EC 11. JV—Elyria Catholic,  47-46

In order to comment, you must agree to our user agreement and discussion guidelines.

Need help? Email Us.