Boys basketball: Elyria Catholic falls to 1-8 with loss to Perkins but coach believes turnaround is near

ELYRIA — Jason Smith can feel it getting closer. Elyria Catholic kept things interesting but couldn't close out an early deficit and fell 57-53 to Sandusky Perkins on Friday in non-conference play at the Coliseum. The Panthers suffered their eighth loss in nine tries while the Pirates improved to 3-1, having their season delayed due to the football team's deep playoff run. "How many (four-)point games have we had?" said Smith, the Panthers' first-year coach. "I hope everyone's seeing that. I think we're right there. It's going to turn and it's going to be a fun rest of the season." EC has six losses where it fell short by single digits. It's been a tough stretch and the Panthers hope to see better days once the calendar flips to 2025. Perkins never trailed after scoring the game's first four points and twice it had double-digit leads — 27-17 with just over five minutes left in the first half and again as the third quarter came to a close at 49-38 off a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from 6-foot senior guard Joey Diederich. EC never gave up, closing to within 51-48 off a 10-2 run to start the final quarter. Sophomore Ben Essenmacher threw in a pair of 3-pointers, junior Omarian Miller rebounded a missed shot and sophomore Donovan Shupert scored from inside with 5:12 left in the game. Perkins answered with another 3-pointer, this one from Sam Schweinfurth, and the Panthers were unable to come any closer than 56-53 off freshman Zeke Lind's 3-pointer with 42 seconds left. Perkins played keep-away from that point, getting the back-half of a two-shot foul from Diederich, who scored 14 points and hauled in nine rebounds. Junior Purvis Smallwood scored all 10 of his points in the first quarter, sophomore Matisse Williams poured in 11 of his 18 in the third quarter and Essenmacher, after being inserted late in the third quarter, scored all eight of his from that point. He made all three of his shot attempts that included two from beyond the arc. Smallwood was 4-of-6 shooting — including a pair of 3-pointers — in the first quarter but didn't make another field goal out of eight attempts the rest of the game. Williams made all five of his third-quarter attempts but was 8-of-23 for the game. "In the first half, shots weren't falling," Williams said. "I feel like the second half, we played a lot better offensively. We were getting our stops and held them to a pretty low score. We did what we needed to do on defense but offensively, it wasn't our night." "I thought our guys did a really good job against (Perkins') 2-3 zone," Smith said. "Getting patient, getting open shots. Offensively, we were stagnant in the first half, really struggled to get our offense going. Second half, I thought it was much better — much better movement, better passing." Diederich and 6-4 senior Tim Boals combined for 16 rebounds, a category Perkins dominated 37-26. It didn't help that the Panthers had more turnovers (15-12). "Tyler (Wilson) did a great job defensively," Smith said. "I thought he had at least six, seven blocked shots. He did a phenomenal job of cleaning that paint up, but it can't be just him." Perkins coach Eric Kochendoerfer is pleased with the start for his team. "We're still trying to get in basketball shape," he said. "Trying to get our flow down a little more. I thought our kids played hard against a very good Elyria Catholic team. That's a very athletic team and they knocked down some big shots. We were happy to get out of here with a (win)." Contact Tim Gebhardt at (440) 329-7135 or timothygeb@msn.com. Perkins 57, Elyria Catholic 53 PERKINS (57): Sam Schweinfurth 2-0-5, Kash Koch 0-0-0, Joey Diederich 4-4-14, Tim Boals 5-4-14, Levi Groot 5-0-11, Bryce Davie 1-0-2, Kellen Glass 3-1-7, Kaden Legando 2-0-4, Vinny Strohl 0-0-0. Totals 22-9-57. ELYRIA CATHOLIC (53): Purvis Smallwood 4-0-10, Tyler Wilson 3-0-6, Donovan Shumpert 1-0-2, Matisse Williams 8-0-18, Zeke Lind 3-0-7, Omarian Miller 1-0-2, Dominique Stamper 0-0-0, Ben Essenmacher 3-0-8. Totals 23-0-53. Perkins&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;21&emsp;11&emsp;17&emsp; 8&emsp;—&emsp;57Elyria Catholic&emsp; 14 &emsp;9&emsp;15&emsp;15&emsp;—&emsp;53 Three-point goals: Perkins 4-14 (Diederich 2, Schweinfurth, Groot), Elyria Catholic 7-22 (Smallwood 2, Williams 2, Essemacher 2, Lind). Field goals: Perkins 22-52 (42 percent), Elyria Catholic 23-52 (44 percent). Free throws: Perkins 9-12 (75 percent), Elyria Catholic 0-2 (0 percent). Rebounds: Perkins 37 (Diederich 9), Elyria Catholic 26 (Wilson, Williams 6). Turnovers: Perkins 12, Elyria Catholic 15. Fouls: Perkins 8, Elyria Catholic 15. Junior varsity: Perkins, 56-50