Boys Basketball: Elyria loses game, ground to Berea-Midpark

ELYRIA — It's still early, but the Southwestern Conference race just got a bit more interesting. Berea-Midpark came away with a huge 73-60 win over two-time defending champion Elyria on Tuesday, on the Pioneers' floor no less. It was only the second time the Titans (8-4, 5-1) have beaten Elyria (9-3, 4-2) in the past nine meetings. "(Berea-Midpark) wanted to win," said Elyria coach Brett Larrick. "They came out with a mentality and they just kept fighting. I thought we did a decent job at times but then they went on spurts where we turned it over or they outrebounded us." How'd the Titans pull it off? Start with Nick Reece, a hard-nosed, 6-foot junior guard who finished with 36 points, including hitting all six of his fourth-quarter shots as Berea-Midpark sealed the victory by making 10 of its 12 shots in the final quarter. Reece buried a half dozen 3-pointers, including a pair to start the fourth quarter that broke open a close game and gave the Titans a 56-47 cushion. "Definitely we had an X on the calendar for this game," said Reece. "Being a freshman, beating them here was a great experience, but as a sophomore, losing two times was awful. We came back here and did what we had to do." "We talked a lot about Tuesday night road games are hard to win," said first-year Berea-Midpark coach Tom Harrington, who was an assistant under Kevin Braaten for a couple of seasons prior to Braaten switching over to the girls team. "Our kids have been pretty good the last two Tuesday nights at Ridgeville and then here. We have a ton of respect for Elyria and the success that they've had." Berea-Midpark, with no one taller than 6-3 in its starting lineup, outrebounded the Pioneers 33-27 and outshot Elyria 50 percent to 46 percent, making nine 3-pointers to six for the Pioneers. Reece led all rebounders with seven, and Tyson Clay and Dre Alexander, both just 5-10, managed to pull in six rebounds each. "It's funny you mentioned the rebounds because that was one of the top keys we had on our board," said Harrington. "We had to rebound the basketball. Our guys showed a ton of effort and a ton of poise. Nick hit the two big threes to get us going there." In the late stages, with Elyria's defense gambling with traps and pressure, the Titans found ways to get easy layups to maintain the lead. Berea-Midpark turned it over just 12 times for the game, half of those coming in the final quarter. Elyria turned it over 15 times. Reece had help scoring. Clay (15 points) and Reid Braaten (13) did their share. Elyria trailed at halftime 35-29, but ran off eight unanswered points to start the second half. All told, the Pioneers outscored Berea-Midpark 13-2 over the first five minutes of the second half to lead 42-37. Seth Wilkerson scored seven of those points, Micah Jackson hit a big 3-pointer and Kendyll Compton contributed an old-fashioned three-point play. Compton added a 3-pointer after a layup by Clay to give Elyria a 45-39 lead, but the Pioneers were shut out over the last 2:20 of the quarter and trailed 50-45 entering the final eight minutes. "We fought back in the third quarter, but we did the same thing," Larrick said. "Bad possessions, turnovers, rebounds. They made winning plays. Give Reece credit. He was really, really good." A basket by Tink Shelton and a 3-pointer by Jeremiah Daniels closed the deficit to 58-54 with five minutes to play, but Berea-Midpark found ways to beat Elyria's traps down the stretch to pull away. Reece and Braaten combined for five layups over the last three-plus minutes. "They went small and they have good ballhandlers." said Larrick. "It's just tough to scramble when you're down. Fifty-50 balls, they end up hitting a three at the end (of the half). Rebounds off a free throw. Plays like that. Those are winning plays." Contact Tim Gebhardt at (440) 329-7135 or timothygeb@msn.com. Berea-Midpark 73, Elyria 60 Berea-Midpark (73): Diggy Maddox 2-0-5, Tyson Clay 6-2-15, Reid Braaten 5-2-13, Dre Alexander 2-0-4, Nick Reece 14-2-36, Cal Maloney 0-0-0, Vinnie Weaver 0-0-0. Totals 29-6-73. Elyria (60): Cam Bell 2-1-6, Rondell Grimmett 1-0-2, Seth Wilkerson 3-2-8, Tink Shelton 3-0-6, Kendyll Compton 5-1-13, Micah Jackson 3-0-8, Ethan Rogers 2-1-5, Christian Rogers 2-0-4, Jeremiah Daniels 3-1-8. Totals 24-6-60. Berea-Midpark&emsp;12&emsp;23&emsp;15&emsp;23&emsp;—&emsp;73 Elyria&emsp;16&emsp;13&emsp;16&emsp;15&emsp;—&emsp;60 Three-point goals: Berea-Midpark 9-19 (Reece 6, Maddox, Clay, Braaten), Elyria 6-17 (Compton 2, Jackson 2, Bell, Daniels). Field goals: Berea-Midpark 29-58 (50 percent), Elyria 24-53 (45 percent). Free throws: Berea-Midpark 6-7 (86 percent), Elyria 6-10 (60 percent). Rebounds: Berea-Midpark 33 (Reece 7), Elyria 27 (Daniels 6). Turnovers: Berea-Midpark 12, Elyria 15. Fouls: Berea-Midpark 13, Elyria 11. Junior varsity: Berea-Midpark, 67-58.