Boys Basketball: Balanced Elyria Catholic starts fast, turns back Benedictine

ELYRIA — A quick start opened things up for Elyria Catholic. The Panthers scored the first seven points and kept Benedictine at arm's length for the remainder of the evening as Elyria Catholic secured an 89-76 North Coast Conference win Friday. "Our transition basketball was great," said Donovan Shumpert, who scored 16 points and led the team with 10 rebounds. "We got the rebound and then pushed the ball up the court. We're starting to be a really good team in transition, going down the court with our drills. That's really transferred onto the court in our games." Elyria Catholic (10-5, 3-3) put six players in double figures, including its starting five along with Kingston Daniels, who added 13 points and a whole lot of energy off the bench. The Panthers got a quick spark from Purvie Smallwood III, who hit a three in the first 10 seconds. Elyria Catholic held the lead for the remaining 31:50. He bookended a 10-4 opening run with another three. The Panthers ultimately stretched their lead to 17-6 and were efficient from the field, shooting 60 percent for the game and outrebounding Benedictine (8-5, 3-3) 41-39. "We had a lot of energy and knew that we had to pick it up," said Smallwood, who finished with 11 points, including eight in the first half. "There were a lot of people in the crowd today, so it was really loud and we knew that if we have energy we were going to get a win." Matisse Williams led Elyria Catholic with 20 points behind a well-balanced effort. He finished with nine in the first half, including 4-of-5 from inside 3-point range. He added six points in the third quarter when Elyria Catholic really started to pull away. Dominique Stamper was the other player in double figures, finishing with 13 to go with two steals. "We've got guys who can really fill it up, but the strength of our team is depth and scoring," Elyria Catholic coach Jason Smith said. "We've had multiple games where we've had the entire roster score. That's the strength of our team. You can't just take one guy away. I thought our ball movement today was phenomenal, hitting guys off of cuts and in transition. I was really happy with the way we played." Even though Benedictine got back into the Panthers' rearview mirror in the final three minutes, the Bengals seemed closer than they appeared. Stephon Bohanon led all scorers with 29 points, including 13 in a frantic fourth quarter in which Benedictine cut a 20-point deficit to nine off a 14-3 run that included eight unanswered points. Bohanon nailed another three that cut the deficit to eight points with 1:03 left, but Elyria Catholic stopped the rally by connecting on all six of its free throws sandwiched around a steal in transition by Shumpert that led to an easy layup. "We got comfortable with a 20-point lead," Smith said. "Bohanon finally took over and really went at it, but some of those threes were hand in the face, good defense, he just buried them. We have to do a better job of finishing games out, but that was a statement win in the conference for us against a great team." Contact Chris Sweeney at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on X. Elyria Catholic 89, Benedictine 76 BENEDICTINE (76): Khaled Thompson 1-0-2, Stephon Bohanon 9-8-29, Jamirion Vinson 4-2-10, Xander Smith 3-0-7, Tyrell O'Neal 3-1-7, Jonathan Spikes 3-1-7, Antwan Livingston 4-0-9, Carter Bogard 2-0-5, Ford Schneider 0-0-0, Sean Borders 0-0-0. Totals 29-12-76. ELYRIA CATHOLIC (89): Dominique Stamper 2-9-13, Jazear Terry 6-2-14, Purvie Smallwood III 4-0-11, Matisse Williams 7-5-20, Donovan Shumpert 8-0-16, Ben Essenmacher 0-0-0, Kingston Daniels 5-2-13, Robbie Duray 1-0-2. Totals 33-18-89. Benedictine&emsp;16&emsp;14&emsp;13&emsp;33&emsp;—&emsp;76 Elyria Catholic&emsp;27&emsp;17&emsp;14&emsp;31&emsp;—&emsp;89 Three-point goals: Benedictine 6-27 (Bohanon 3, Bogard, Livingston, Smith), Elyria Catholic 5-13 (Smallwood 3, Daniels, Williams). Field goals: Benedictine 28-68 (41 percent), Elyria Catholic 33-55 (60 percent). Free throws: Benedictine 14-18 (78 percent), Elyria Catholic 18-26 (69 percent). Rebounds: Benedictine 39 (O'Neal 7), Elyria Catholic 41 (Shumpert 10). Total fouls: Benedictine 22, Elyria Catholic 14. Fouled out: Thompson, Vinson. Turnovers: Benedictine 16, Elyria Catholic 16. Junior varsity: Benedictine, 46-41.