Boys basketball: Amherst shows it can play, knocks Elyria out of first in the SWC with overtime win

AMHERST — Pat Bray has been saying all along his Amherst Comets can play. Friday, Bray was one proud coach. Amherst bumped off Elyria 73-71 in overtime to knock the Pioneers off their first-place perch in Southwestern Conference play. Berea-Midpark regained sole possession of first place with its 63-58 win over North Ridgeville. "These guys have it in them," Bray said. "But at times they want to do it their way. They've bought in now, and when we do it our way, it's a pretty good way." Amherst (7-11, 2-10 SWC) outhustled and outplayed Elyria (12-6, 9-3) from the get-go. The Comets were credited with 10 team rebounds –— balls that were contested around the rim before being tipped out of bounds. Elyria had only one. Amherst ended up with 34 rebounds to 32 for the Pioneers, who also committed one more turnover for the night. "We talk about boxing out," said 6-foot-3 Eli Solak, who had six rebounds. "We're not the biggest team. I'm the tallest kid on the team right now. Boxing out is what we preach." "We took Berea to overtime and lost by three," said Bray. "We told (our team), these guys are tied with Berea. We think we're as good as Berea. We can be as good as these guys." Elyria coach Brett Larrick knew it would be tough but his team apparently didn't listen. Amherst may have lost by 10 to the Pioneers the first time around, but it was a one-point ballgame going into the final quarter. "Give them all the credit in the world," Larrick said of the Comets. "They deserved to win that game. They took it to us. They played fast, they scrapped, just like we said they were going to. Give those kids credit. They came to win a game." "During warm-ups, I was feeling good," said junior Tristyn Young, who led the Comets with 26 points. "Everything was just going down and I was feeling good." Young scored eight points in both the first and second quarter. With Elyria up 71-70 in the final 28 seconds of overtime, it was Young who got free underneath and took a pass from Stanley Robinson for a layup with five seconds left. "Stanley Robinson's a good point guard," said Young. "Great move, great pass." "Coach always preaches that I handle the ball well," said Robinson, a 5-6 sophomore. "He told me I needed to go make a play. I attacked. I saw Tristyn cutting in from the left side and gave it to him." Elyria's Jayden Crutcher tried to dribble up the floor but lost the ball out of bounds. Young made one of two free throws to ice it with just 0.2 left to play. The Pioneers rallied from a 62-52 deficit with just over two minutes to play in regulation to send the game to overtime. Jermiah Daniels scored on a steal and layup. Xavier Church scored on a short jumper inside and converted the free throw with 1:02 left. Crutcher hit a 3-pointer with 54 seconds left to slice it to 62-60. Elyria got the ball back but turned it over and Landen Bray sank a pair of free throws for a 64-60 lead with 16.6 seconds left. Crutcher hit another 3-pointer and when Young missed the back-end of a two-shot foul, Crutcher got fouled trying to drive. He hit both free throws to send it to overtime. "You can't play one quarter and win games," Larrick said. "You've got to continually be consistent. When you don't do things the right way, on and off the floor, things like this happen. We weren't ready to play in any aspect." Ashton Draga got Amherst the lead in overtime off a steal but Daniels came right back with a layup to tie it at 67. Crutcher sank a pair of free throws but Draga matched those and Robinson hit the front end of his two-shot opportunity for a 70-69 lead. Taylor Blanton gave Elyria the lead with 47 seconds left on a drive-in basket but after a timeout with 28.4 remaining, Amherst controlled the ball with Robinson finally penetrating and dishing off to Young for what turned out to be the game-winner. Amherst never trailed by more than two after the first five minutes of the game. The Comets kept their composure and never let the Pioneers jump out to a big lead. "We've had games like that where we've come out on the wrong end of it," Bray said. "We watched the film of the first time we played (Elyria). They pulled out to a five-point lead. We're not the kind of team that can come back from being down seven, eight, 10 against a team like that." Contact Tim Gebhardt at (440) 329-7135 or timothygeb@msn.com. Amherst 73, Elyria 71 (OT) ELYRIA (71): Jermiah Daniels 7-2-16, Taylor Blanton 5-0-13, Jayden Crutcher 7-5-25, Xavier Church 2-1-5, BJ Todd 0-1-1, Cam Bell 2-4-8, Christian Rogers 0-0-0, Nicolas Rogers 0-0-0, Pierre Alston 0-0-0, Laron Anderson-Oliver 0-0-0, Rondell Grimmett 0-0-0, Darrion Crawford 1-0-3. Totals 24-10-71.AMHERST (73): Ryan Yoder 6-0-14, Ashton Draga 2-2-7, Landen Bray 3-2-10, Tristyn Young 12-2-26, Eli Solak 3-2-8, Andrew Balicki 0-0-0, Stanley Robinson 3-2-8, Gavin Beckler 0-0-0. Totals 29-10-73. Elyria&emsp; 17&emsp;18&emsp;11&emsp;19&emsp;6&emsp;—&emsp;71Amherst&emsp;22&emsp;17&emsp;17&emsp;9&emsp;8&emsp;—&emsp;73 Three-point goals: Elyria 10-31 (Crutcher 6, Blanton 3, Crawford), Amherst 5-15 (Yoder 2, Bray 2, Draga). Field goals: Elyria 24-59 (41 percent), Amherst 29-63 (46 percent). Free throws: Elyria 13-17 (76 percent), Amherst 10-18 (55 percent). Rebounds: Elyria 32 (Daniels 7), Amherst 34 (Solak 6). Turnovers: Elyria 17, Amherst 16. Fouls: Elyria 17, Amherst 18. Fouled out: Solak, Church.Junior varsity: Elyria, 64-46