CLEVELAND — During its fantastic tournament run, Avon Lake never had to make up more than a nine-point deficit.

But less than five minutes into Wednesday’s regional semifinal, the quick-triggered Mentor Cardinals had built a 17-6 lead on its way to an incredible 30-point first quarter. Avon Lake spent the rest of the game trying to make it up — and it never did.

Mentor 64, Avon Lake 58.

Fifth-ranked Mentor (22-3) will meet St. Edward on Saturday evening at the Wolstein Center on the campus of Cleveland State to represent Northeast Ohio in next week’s state tournament in Columbus. Avon Lake wrapped up a great run at 17-8. The Shoremen made their first regional appearance in Division I.

“We dug ourselves a bit of a hole but we never gave up,” said coach Eric Smith, who orchestrated a near-perfect run at Midview to capture the district title. “They stuck with the game plan. That’s what I was proud of.”

First, it was simply Mentor’s overall quickness and defense that put Avon Lake in a 30-13 first-quarter hole. The Shoremen lived with their press at Midview but found the Cardinals’ swarming back-court pressure to be too much to handle. By the time Avon Lake settled down, Mentor had built a comfortable cushion.

“We scaled back the pressure,” said Bob Krizancic, a veteran of 17 years as the Cardinals coach. “We had to. We had a couple kids with three fouls. We would have liked to keep the tempo where it was.”

“That’s one thing you can’t simulate in practice: the speed of the game,” Smith said. “It’s something we don’t see on a regular basis. It took us awhile to adjust to the speed of the game. It took us awhile to adjust to the environment. This is the first time at the regionals for this school in Division I.

“That’s what we told them (at the end of the first quarter). Take a deep breath. Take it easy and relax. Game’s not over.”

Secondly, super sophomore Eric Stuczynski, the kid with ice in his veins at Midview, picked up two quick fouls in the first quarter, his third shortly after re-entering in the second and his fourth early in the fourth. He fouled out with seven points in just 15 minutes of action.

“It happens,” said Smith. “That’s basketball and you have to play through it. Eric was down a little bit but we had other guys step up and play well.”

In spite of the long odds, Avon Lake battled its way back into the game.

Beginning in the second quarter, the Shoremen started getting the game at a pace more to their style. They whittled the lead to a manageable 10-point deficit by halftime and all the way to 59-54 as the clock wound down to a minute left in the game.

“We stayed the course and fought our way back into it,” said Smith. “We gave ourselves a chance.”

Mentor was content to run the clock down most of the fourth quarter. It nearly backfired, but Mentor made its free throws (8-of-12 in the quarter).

“That’s good coaching,” said Smith. “He did what he had to do to win the basketball game.”

Dom Whitfield, one of Avon Lake’s underrated seniors, had his best game of the tournament with 15 points, four rebounds and five assists. He was 5-of-8 from the field and 5-of-6 at the foul line.

“Dom Whitfield had a nice game for us,” said Smith. “Ronnie (Willoughby) did some things. He only had five points but Brandon Murway — the sophomore — came off the bench and gave us great minutes. He handled the basketball and helped us against pressure.”

Mentor was led by its 3-point shooters – sophomore Justin Fritts and senior Jaron Crowe. They combined for six threes, with Fritts hitting four from beyond the arc and eight free throws in 10 attempts. Junior Cole Krizancic, the coach’s son, had 18 points, including 10-of-12 from the line.

Avon Lake committed five turnovers in the disastrous first quarter and had only one in the second. Meanwhile, the Shoremen were able to force Mentor into some costly errors.

“We gave up a couple big leads,” said coach Krizancic. “Hopefully we’ll learn from that for Saturday. I just wanted to play smart and get to that 10th foul and let our guards handle the basketball.”

“I think we proved that we belong here,” said Smith. “A lot of people, even after we beat Brunswick and Medina, they still looked at us — Mentor, St. Ed’s, St. Ignatius, Avon Lake. We proved to about 5,000 people that we belong.”

Mentor 64, Avon Lake 58

MENTOR (64): Cole Krizancic 4-10-18, Jaron Crowe 4-0-10, Justin Fritts 6-8-24, Cameron Aloisio 2-2-6, Matt Solden 1-0-2, Ryan Rowe 1-1-4, Tom Strobel 0-0-0. Totals 18-21-64.

AVON LAKE (58): T.J. Thompson 2-1-6, Ronnie Willoughby 4-5-13, Eric Stuczynski 3-0-7, Brandon Muck 3-0-6, Dom Whitfield 5-5-15, Jay Seaton 0-0-0, Pat England 1-0-2, Kyle McNamara 0-0-0, Brandon Spitzer 0-0-0, Mike Magyar 0-0-0, Brandon Murway 2-0-5, Logan Dilik 1-0-2, Trent Toy 0-2-2, Dan Reichlin 0-0-0. Totals 21-13-58.

Mentor 30 6 16 12 — 64

Avon Lake 13 13 12 20 — 58

Three-point goals: Mentor 7-18 (Fritts 4, Crowe 2, Rowe), Avon Lake 3-11 (Thompson, Stuczynski, Murway). Field Goals: Mentor 18-33 (54.5 percent), Avon Lake 21-36 (58 percent). Free Throws: Mentor 21-30 (70 percent), Avon Lake 13-20 (65 percent). Rebounds: Mentor 18 (Fritts 5), Avon Lake 21 (Willoughby 7). Turnovers: Mentor 10, Avon Lake 12.. Fouls: Mentor 18, Avon Lake 22. Technical Foul: None. Fouled Out: Stuczynski.

Contact Tim Gebhardt at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.

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