High school basketball: Lorain's second-half lows lead to loss at Warrensville Heights

WARRENSVILLE HTS. — The second half quickly turned into a nightmare for Lorain in a 64-49 Lake Erie League loss to Warrensville Heights on Friday night. After falling into a 9-0 hole, the Titans cut the Tigers' lead to 16-12 after the first quarter and took a 24-18 lead on a Jamir Billings 3-pointer midway through the second. Lorain outscored Warrensville Heights 19-9 in the second quarter to take a 31-25 lead into halftime. That's when the Tigers responded ... and the Titans ran out of answers. Warrensville Heights (10-1, 7-0 LEL) scored the first 17 points of the second half to take control. Jaden Hameed connected on three 3-pointers in the first 4:30 of the third quarter to spark the big run. Lorain never recovered. It missed all seven of its shots, including five from beyond the arc, and turned the ball over four times during the Tigers' big run. "Good teams at home come out with a lot of energy," Lorain coach John Rositano said after the Titans fell to 4-2, 3-1 in the league. "I thought we did a good job of withstanding that opening barrage. We came back, started doing the things we're supposed to do and took a six-point lead to halftime. "We stopped doing what we were supposed to do. We stopped defending. We stopped running the court. We got casual with the ball. We took quick shots. That's how you get whacked by 20 in the second half." After shooting 57 percent (12-for-21) in the first half, including going 6-for-88 from 3-point range, the Titans shot just 33 percent (7-for-21) in the second and scored just 18 points. "Against a really, really good team — a talented team — we have to do the things Lorain does on a game-to-game basis," Rositano said. "When you don't do that you're going to get beat by a really talented team like that. "I'm just disappointed because at halftime I thought we had settled into the game. We were defending them really hard. I thought (Warrensville Heights) got tired and I thought they got frustrated. "In the second half they came out and hit three wide-open, uncontested threes. I thought we bailed them out. We didn't make them work for it. They got open threes and we just let them back into the game." Hameed scored a game-high 20 points for the Tigers while Tyshawn Smiley scored 13 points and pulled down a game-high 15 rebounds. Warrensville Heights coach Brian Swift liked how his team responded to open the second half. "We had a letdown in the second quarter, I came in and had some choice words at halftime and they responded," Swift said. "The way we started the second half was the way I wanted to play the entire 32 minutes. They came out and executed." Seth Wilson led Lorain with 19 points and six rebounds while Billings added 16. Rositano said he couldn't remember the last time a Lorain team scored only 18 points in a half. "That's what happens when you're impatient," he said. "They came back at us, scored nine quick points in the second half and we got flustered. We took some shots we shouldn't take and it just snowballed." Contact Mike Perry at 329-7135 or macsportstalk@gmail.com. Warrensville Heights 64, Lorain 49 LORAIN (49): Seth Wilson 6-3-18, De'Vante Jackson 4-1-9, Jamir Billings 6-0-16, Aden Brown 2-0-4, Jordan Daniels 1-0-2. Totals 19-4-49. WARRENSVILLE HEIGHTS (64): Jaden Hameed 7-1-20, Ramelle Arnold 5-0-11, Tyishawn Smiley 5-3-13, Jamarion Johnson 4-0-10, Antwoine Crim 1-0-2, Terrion Ellis 2-0-4, Maurice Tartt 2-0-4. Totals 26-4-64. Lorain 12 19 8 10 -- 49 Warrensville Hts. 16 9 24 15 -- 64 Three-point goals: Elyria 7-20 (Billings 4, Wilson 3), Warrensville Hts. 8-18 (Hameed 5, Johnson 2, Arnold). Field goals: Lorain 19-49 (39.5 percent), Warrensville Hts. 26-56 (46.4 percent); Free throws: Lorain 4-4 (100 percent), Warrensville Hts. 4-9 (44.4 percent); Rebounds: Lorain 28 (Wilson 6), Warrensville Hts. 30 (Smiley 15). Turnovers: Lorain 16, Warrensville Hts. 12. Total fouls: Lorain 10, Warrensville Hts. 7. Junior varsity: Lorain, 40-29