Boys basketball: Jacob Addis wills Lorain to win over Shaw

LORAIN — Jacob Addis took the biggest stage of his high school basketball career Friday night and made the most of the moment with his team desperately needing a win. In what was a back-and-forth game all night in Lorain, the Titans held a one-point lead over Lake Erie League rival Shaw with 30 seconds left in regulation, needing a big defensive stand with three of its starters on the floor with four fouls. Addis crashed the boards on a Cardinals miss, grabbed the rebound and got fouled in the process, sending the Titans' big man to the free throw line with 10 seconds left and a chance to put the game a little further out of reach. The senior took a second to compose himself before stepping to the line and making both free throws with ease, giving Lorain a 44-41 lead with seconds to spare. Addis got a chance to put the game on ice when Shaw's desperation three-pointer bounced off the rim and into his hands, drawing another foul and two more free throw attempts. Addis made the first of the final two shots to secure a much-needed 45-41 win for Lorain (5-10, 3-6) — its second win in its last nine games going back to 2021. "I was a little nervous but I looked at my coach and he told me to relax," Addis said. "I practice (free throws) every day after practice and it's just a mental thing. You can't think about it, you just have to do it. When I got up there I tuned everything out and did my routine. "I did what coach (Shawn) Hood and coach (Matt) Kielian preach to us which is fight and rebound and box out. So I did what I had to do. I boxed out and then fought for it and I ended up coming up with it." Each game brings a new experience for a Lorain team that features a roster with little to no previous varsity minutes, so often this season the stage has become too overwhelming which has led to some difficult losses, including a two-point loss to Shaw in the teams' first meeting of the season. This time around, the Titans were ready to prove they've learned from those previous mistakes. "We knew we were gonna have to fight and we were gonna have to battle," Kielian said. "The first game (against Shaw) was pretty physical, not too much offense. We figured it would be a pretty similar game. We're trying to grow and trying to be resilient and we're trying to have the right attitude that wins games and I think that's what happened tonight. Our games can go either way and if we don't fight and we're not resilient then we don't have a chance." Jordan Daniels had another big game for the Titans with a game-high 18 points — the only player in double figures for Lorain — and hit one of the biggest shots of the night himself when he threw up a three-pointer from well beyond the arc and drained it as the third-quarter buzzer sounded. The basket gave the Titans a 29-26 lead heading into the final quarter. Daniels has made shots like that all season, however, and he's assumed the role of team leader as the only player to have limited varsity experience last year. When the team took the floor after halftime, it was Daniels who kept his team composed and focused on the task at hand. "In the first half we were getting focused on what we messed up on, (but) in the second half our coaches were telling us 'just keep playing no matter what you do, just keep playing no matter what happens,'" he said. "So when we're out there I just try to remind the team we need to keep playing and forget about what happened because the next possession is what matters, not the last one." "We really needed that because we've lost a couple games and we've just been down," Addis added. "We got so much confidence in ourselves now…we're just very happy and have a lot of energy so hopefully it will transfer into the next game." Contact Marissa McNees at ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow her on Twitter @MarissaNM. Lorain 45, Shaw 41 SHAW (41): Damrion Achoe 4-1-9, Santana Bugg 0-0-0, Jayavantae Small 3-4-12, Chaysean Chavis 4-3-11, Malachi Yisrael 1-3-5, De'Lon Bush 2-0-4, Da'Vyon Johnson 0-0-0. Totals 14-11-41. LORAIN (45): Rashaad Carter 1-1-4, Reggie Wade 0-0-0, Jordan Daniels 7-1-18, Asiah Kielian 1-0-3, DJ Pettis 2-0-4, Christian Ruiz 2-2-6, Israel Amerson 2-1-5, Jacob Addis 1-3-5. Totals 16-8-45. Shaw&emsp; &emsp;4&emsp;&emsp;8&emsp;&emsp;14&emsp;&emsp;15&emsp;&emsp;—&emsp;&emsp;41Lorain&emsp;&emsp;7&emsp;&emsp;9&emsp;&emsp;13&emsp;&emsp;16&emsp;&emsp;—&emsp;&emsp;45 Three-point goals: Shaw 2-13, Lorain 5-16. Field goals: Shaw 14-44 (32 percent), Lorain 16-43 (37 percent). Free throws: Shaw 11-22 (50 percent), Lorain 8-9 (89 percent). Rebounds: Shaw 24 (Chavis 10), Lorain 38 (Amerson 7). Total fouls: Shaw 12, Lorain 20. Fouled out: Kielian. Turnovers: Shaw 12, Lorain 18. Junior varsity: Lorain, 61-20