WESTLAKE — Football is commonly referred to as a game of inches, but Friday night Elyria Catholic found out that saying can be applied to basketball as well.
In what could have been the Panthers’ finest victory of the season turned out to be coach Alan Januzzi’s least favorite night of the year as Cody Schuster’s last-second
3-point attempt bounced off the back of the rim as the buzzer sounded.
The miss ended a hard-fought defensive struggle that saw top-seeded Holy Name eke out a 33-31 win over eighth-seeded EC in a Division II sectional final at Westlake High School.
Holy Name (14-6) will face Vermilion in the district semifinal Tuesday night at
7 o’clock.
For EC, the next game is months away with the Panthers ending the season at 6-16.
“For me, this is my most unfavorite day of the year,” Januzzi said. “You never want the season to end because we have become a family. We have spent nearly every day together for months, and you don’t want it to end.
“I think it’s a testament to these young men and their families the way they came out and played tonight. From where we started at the beginning of the season to how we played tonight says a lot. It’s really a privilege to be able to coach them.”
EC led early before Holy Name battled back to take a 19-16 lead at the intermission. Neither team shot well in the third quarter as Holy Name added one point to its lead and led 24-20 entering the final quarter.
A Paul Kubuski basket and a pair of free throws by Kevin Fentner in the opening minute tied the game at 24. Holy Name responded with five straight points from Kevin Krakowiak, including his fourth 3-pointer of the game, to push it’s lead to 29-24 with 4:56 left to play.
EC stopped the run with another Kubuski basket but a jumper in the lane by Holy Name’s Tom Berlekamp pushed the lead back to five at 31-26 with 2:42 to go.
However, Schuster drilled a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession to cut the lead to 31-29 with 2:12 remaining.
Kubuski, who led EC with nine points, hit a free throw to pull the Panthers to within 31-30. With time ticking away, EC was forced to foul and Holy Name’s Tom Loehmann hit a pair of free throws with 27 seconds left to move the lead to 33-30.
Ryan Taylor split a pair of free throws for EC to cut the Holy Name lead to 33-31 with 22 seconds left. Another EC foul sent the Green Wave to the line but Loehmann missed the front end of a one-and-one giving EC the ball.
The Panthers moved the ball down the court and momentarily got caught in the right corner. Januzzi was signaling for a timeout with four seconds remaining but the referees didn’t notice and EC got the ball out top to Schuster for the open shot.
“It felt good when it left my hands,” Schuster said. “I couldn’t ask for much more. I thought it was going in. But it hit the back of the rim and the buzzer sounded. If it was just a couple of inches shorter it would have made it.”
“I thought the shot was going in,” said Holy Name coach Mark Krakowiak. “They got in trouble but they managed to kick it out to Schuster and he had a good look. Thankfully, for our sake it didn’t go in.”
Contact Hans Schneider at 329-7136 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.

Holy Name 33, Elyria Catholic 31

HOLY NAME (33): Kevin Krakowiak 4-2-14, Tom Berlekamp 3-0-7, Tom Loehmann 1-3-5, Mike Yurcak 2-0-4, Tom McCarthy 1-1-3, Danny Day 0-0-0, John McGoun 0-0-0, Sean McCafferty 0-0-0. Totals 11-6-33.
ELYRIA CATHOLIC (31): Paul Kubuski 4-1-9, Joe Fitch 4-0-8, Cody Schuster 2-0-5, Kevin Fentner 1-2-5, Josh Russ 1-1-3, Ryan Taylor 0-1-1, Spencer Roule 0-0-0, Joe Januzzi 0-0-0, Adam Kirsch 0-0-0. Totals 11-7-31.
Holy Name    10      9       5       9    -    33
Elyria Catholic     8      8       4       11      -    31

Three-point goals: Holy Name 5 (Krakowiak 4, Tom Berlekamp), Elyria Catholic 2 (Fentner, Schuster). Fields goals: Holy Name 11 of 33 (33 percent), Elyria Catholic 11 of 38 (29 percent). Free Throws: Holy Name 6 of 11 (55 percent), Elyria Catholic 7 of 9 (77 percent). Rebounds: Holy Name 27 (Berlekamp 10), Elyria Catholic 18 (Kubuski 4, Schuster 4). Turnovers: Holy Name 13, Elyria Catholic 12. Fouls: Holy Name 13, Elyria Catholic 14. Fouled out: Holy Name 1 (Krakowiak), Elyria Catholic 1 (Taylor).

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