ELYRIA — Turnabout is fair play, as Elyria Catholic showed in a tremendous North Coast League victory Tuesday at the Coliseum.

Elyria Catholic beat Trinity 53-39, after the Trojans won the earlier matchup this season 52-35.
Joe Januzzi had a career game with 22 points and looks fully recovered from a concussion that sidelined him for two games.

“I feel great,” Januzzi said. “Maybe that (the concussion) knocked something into me. I just wanted this one badly. But it really was a team effort. We all wanted it. We were really motivated tonight.”

Elyria Catholic (3-12, 2-7) started out in a deep hole as the Trojans (6-8, 3-6) jumped out to an
8-1 lead in the first two minutes. But the Panthers responded quickly in playing their best game of the year, and only trailed 12-11 going into the second quarter.

Januzzi had his second straight 20-point game, but deflected the praise to sophomore guard Jay Jerge, who was recently elevated to the varsity.

“Jay did a great job bringing the ball up the court and it helped give me some good looks,” Januzzi said. “Our defense was great, but it has been pretty good all year. Our trouble before tonight was our offense.”

Normally Januzzi brings the ball up the floor, but on Tuesday that role was mainly given to Jerge. Among Januzzi’s eight field goals, three were on dazzling running hook shots seldom seen in high school basketball.

The Panthers shot a sizzling 52 percent from the field, while their zone defense held Trinity to 30 percent. The Trojans, who were tied with EC at halftime at 23, were held to 16 points in the last two quarters. The Panthers also dominated the backboards with a 40-28 advantage, led by 10 rebounds by Spencer Roule, nine by Connor Voreis and eight by Sergio Montanez.

The only downside for EC was that it connected on just 13 of 24 free throws.

“I’m so happy for the kids,” said Elyria Catholic coach Alan Januzzi. “They’ve been playing so hard, they deserved this win. We shot very well and overcame our missed free throws.

“Joe went to the basket extremely well. Having back-to-back 20-point games is nice. I thought Jay also did a nice job handling the ball.”

“All the credit in the world tonight goes to Elyria Catholic,” said Trinity coach Jim Wallish. “They had 100 percent more desire than we did. They played inspired.

“We didn’t go to the basket and settled for too many long shots. Elyria Catholic, on the other hand, was aggressive going to the basket. We started out strong with some 3-pointers, but sometimes that isn’t a good thing. We got sort of complacent and it cost us.”

Contact Jerry Rombach at 329-135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.

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