CLEVELAND — Elyria’s first trip to the Sweet 16 in 31 years turned sour in the fourth quarter Wednesday at Cleveland State’s Wolstein Center.
Leading 51-35 with 2:30 left in the third quarter and in complete control of the game, the Pioneers let it all slip away and lost to Lakewood St. Edward, 70-65. A 21-2 run by the Eagles at the start of the fourth quarter sealed the Pioneers’ fate.
Elyria finished 17-7. St. Ed’s improved to 20-4 and will play Warren Harding, an 88-61 winner over Mentor in Wednesday’s second game, in Saturday’s final.
“Fortunately, we hit some shots in the fourth quarter,” said Eagles coach Eric Flannery, “and they missed some. That started the flow a little bit for us.”
“The game plan went the way we wanted it,” Elyria coach Bob Walsh said. “The kids played hard. Again, we had trouble closing out the deal, but the thing is you have trouble closing out the deal when you don’t have your team on the floor.”
The Pioneers have had a penchant for fourth-quarter failures this year. They were outscored 456-422 during the final eight minutes on the season. And that includes their remarkable comeback against Strongsville last week in which they outscored the Mustangs, 31-12.
Perhaps being a little too thin on the bench finally caught up with Elyria. Seryrell Davis and Travis Noble did their best inside before fouling out late in the game. Guard Promis Cabbil also fouled out.
The rebound battle was even at halftime but St. Edward finished with a 39-30 advantage. Its size came into play during the fourth-quarter rally. Elyria still had a 55-48 lead when Demetrius Dalton tossed a shot over the head of 6-foot-9 Tom Pritchard from the right baseline at the 7:00 mark. However, Pritchard scored consecutive “and ones” off close-range baskets to trim the margin to 55-54 with four-and-a-half minutes left.
To that point, Elyria’s quickness had made all the difference. The Pioneers negated St. Edward’s size advantage by slapping and knocking the ball free. Once they got in the open court, it was layup city. Elyria scored 19 points off turnovers and was credited with 11 steals.
Dalton feasted with six steals, seven defensive loose-ball rebounds and 38 points — believed to be a CSU regional record. Dalton’s performance pushed the 5-foot-9 senior’s career point total past both Ted Gottfried and Richard Montague for third place in Elyria High history with 1,129 points. Dalton was 16-of-29 from the field, including 6-of-11 from beyond the 3-point arc.
“He did a super job for us,” Walsh said. “It’s just a shame he had to go out on a format like this.”
Dalton’s half-court 3-pointer put Elyria ahead at the halftime buzzer, and what turned out to be the final basket of his high school career brought Elyria within 64-63 with 1:36 to play. Moments later it appeared junior Travis Noble had stolen the ball cleanly from Pritchard but he was whistled with his fifth foul instead.
“At first I was nervous,” Dalton said, “but then I started getting the feeling of it. My teammates were finding me and I started hitting my shots.”  
Rayshawn Camel finished with 11 points, two rebounds and three steals, while Cabbil, the third member of one of the quickest senior backcourts in northeast Ohio, had five assists, two rebounds and a steal.
“We wanted to stay together but obviously we didn’t have enough hustle to win the game,” Camel said.
“(St. Ed’s) started out the fourth quarter hitting threes,” Cabbil said. “That took our energy level down. We couldn’t bounce back from it.”
“We’re not the quickest team in the world,” Flannery said. “We knew (Elyria’s) speed would be a big issue — getting back on defense, stopping their transition, trying to limit their baskets. We’re a pretty good half-court defensive team, but when you can’t get back on defense to stop them, they’re getting easy buckets.”
Flannery said finally getting the lead and being able to go back to a zone defense was key down the stretch.
“We tried to use the zone early as much as we could,” he said, “but when you’re trailing, it’s hard to go to a zone because you allow them to do what they want. We are who we are. We’ve always been good when we’re the aggressor and set the tempo for the game, but Elyria did a great job of controlling the tempo.”
It didn’t help Elyria to have a 16-4 deficit in points from the foul line and it certainly didn’t help Elyria to have three of its key players foul out. It’s another avenue that has hurt the Pioneers all year. Opponents have taken 505 free throws to Elyria’s 372.
“My team wasn’t on the floor,” Walsh said. “I couldn’t put my team on the floor.”
“At the end, all of us got into foul trouble,” Cabbil said, “and three of us fouled out. We started out excited. We love playing in front of a big crowd. We got hyped and tried to win this game. We had a lot of fans here to support us. We wanted to win for them.
“Everything went great until (St. Edward) got rolling in the fourth quarter.”
Contact Tim Gebhardt at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.

St. Edward 70, Elyria 65

ELYRIA (65): Promis Cabbil 1-1-3, Demetrius Dalton 16-0-38, Rayshawn Camel 5-1-11, Seryrell Davis 1-2-4, Travis Noble 2-0-5, Mykel Williams 1-0-2, John Yeaples 1-0-2, Kare King 0-0-0, Mike Cannon-Wohlever 0-0-0. Totals 27-4-65.
ST. EDWARD (70): Mike Hartnett 1-0-3, Frankie Dobbs 2-8-12, Andy Stainbrook 1-0-2, Tom Pritchard 9-6-24, Conor Tilow 5-1-13, Justin Staples 1-0-2, Delbert Love 4-1-11, Andre Eanes 1-0-3. Totals 24-16-70.
Elyria        14    17    22    12    —    65
St. Edward     14    14    12    30    —    70
Three-point goals: Elyria 7-16 (Dalton 6, Noble), St. Edward 6-18 (Tilow 2, Love 2, Hartnett, Eanes). Field Goals: Elyria 27-62 (43.5 percent), St. Edward 24-51 (47.1 percent). Free Throws: Elyria 4-6 (66.7percent), St. Edward 16-25 (64 percent). Rebounds: Elyria 30 (Dalton 10), St. Edward 39 (Pritchard 14). Turnovers: Elyria 8, St. Edward 13. Fouls: Elyria 21, St. Edward 9.Fouled Out: Noble, Cabbil, Davis.

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