EATON TWP. — Little things add up on a basketball floor.

Things like missed free throws, self-inflicted turnovers and general sloppy offensive play finally derailed Elyria from knocking off fourth-seeded Avon Lake on Wednesday night at the Midview Division I tournament. The Shoremen (14-7) finally found the range from the free throw line in the fourth quarter to salt away a 48-43 victory over the Pioneers, who finished 9-12.

Avon Lake advances to Saturday’s sectional final against Southwestern Conference rival Berea, a 50-48 winner over North Ridgeville in Wednesday’s first game.

“That was ugly,” said Avon Lake coach Eric Smith. “But you know what, that’s OK. We talked about it from the beginning of the year. We wanted to make every game as ugly as we possibly could. What we meant by that was we wanted to make the other team as uncomfortable as we possibly could at the offensive end of the floor.”

More photos below.

Avon Lake’s trapping, helter-skelter defense caused a bushel of turnovers and kept the Pioneers out of any comfort zone. Elyria turned it over 22 times — many coming on hurried passes or poor decisions.

“Way too many turnovers,” said Elyria coach Brett Larrick. “Sort of a problem that came back from last year and we’ve done a decent job all year. Our indecisiveness, picking the ball up — our younger guys have got to learn not to make these mistakes.”

“I thought we disrupted (Elyria) a little bit with our pressure,” said Smith. “We turned them over a little bit. We made them work for every basket they got.”

Meanwhile, two things stuck out for the Shoremen on offense.

First, there was sophomore Eric Stuczynski, who finished with 21 points — eight coming in the decisive fourth quarter. Second, after hitting just one free throw in its first eight tries, Avon Lake nailed nine of its last 11, including seven in a row in the last 1:15 to shut the door on Elyria.

The Pioneers held high-scoring Ronnie Willoughby to just four points but couldn’t contain Stuczynski.

“I just take my opportunities when they’re present,” Stuczynski said with a shrug. “I knocked down some shots.”
None bigger than the layup and free throw after two missed Elyria free throws that put the Shoremen up for good at 42-39 with 1:15 left.

“We were awful from the free throw line up until a minute, 30 seconds left to go,” Smith said. “Seven-for-seven in the last minute and a half. That’s when it counts.”

“Defensively, we did an unbelievable job,” said Larrick. “We did a nice job on Ronnie. He’s an unbelievable player. Devin (Swidecki) played his butt off (defending him). Four points and no real good looks and a lot of us helping on him. Unbelievable job of team defense, but the sophomore (Stuczynski) made some big shots.”

It negated a huge effort by Elyria’s Chase Farris.

Farris controlled the defensive board with 17 rebounds. He finished with 20 rebounds and 16 points but couldn’t buy a free throw, going 2-of-10 at the line.

“Even when the big guy — Farris — caught it inside, we had somebody leaning on him or hanging on him,” said Smith. “He had to work for everything. He’s a man.

“What are you going to do? We tried everything. We went small. We went with our regular lineup. We went big — I brought our (football) lineman (Andrew Bohan) off the bench. We got it done. That’s all that matters right now.”

“It hurts,” said Farris. “You play hard the whole time and then the little things — free throws, missed layups and stuff. It just hurts.”

Freshman Kody Bender finished with 11 points for Elyria, while Dom Whitfield and Brandon Muck combined for 14 for Avon Lake. Swidecki finished with nine points before fouling out with 1:35 to play.

Avon Lake 48, Elyria 43

AVON LAKE (48): T.J. Thompson 1-2-5, Ronnie Willoughby 1-2-4, Eric Stuczynski 8-2-21, Brandon Muck 3-0-6,.Dom Whitfield 3-2-8, Trent Toy 0-0-0, Brandon Murway 0-2-2, Pat England 1-0-2, Andrew Bohan 0-0-0, Jay Seaton 0-0-0. Totals 17-10-48.

ELYRIA (43): Mike Cannon 2-0-4, Cody Bender 4-1-11, Devin Swidecki 4-1-9, Matt Velazquez 0-2-2, Chase Farris 7-2-16, Mike Russelle 0-0-0, Zach Zinimon 0-0-0, Josh Brubaker 0-0-0, Anthoni Horton 0-1-1, Maurice Woods 0-0-0. Totals 17-7-43.

Avon Lake 9 12 11 16 — 48

Elyria 7 13 11 12 — 43

Three-point goals: Avon Lake 4-15 (Stuczynski 3, Thompson), Elyria 2-6 (Bender 2). Field goals: Avon Lake 17-42 (40.5 percent), Elyria 17-33 (51.5 percent). Free throws: Avon Lake 10-19 (53 percent), Elyria 7-17 (41percent). Rebounds: Avon Lake 17 (Willoughby 6), Elyria 27 (Farris 20). Turnovers: Avon Lake 8, Elyria 22. Fouls: Avon Lake 17, Elyria 17. Fouled Out: Toy, Swidecki.

Contact Tim Gebhardt at (440) 329-7136 or at ctsports@chroniclet.com.

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