Boys Basketball: Open Door can't keep up with Cornerstone Christian

ELYRIA — In a season of frustration, the Division VII state runner-up is the last thing Open Door needed on the schedule. Even though Cornerstone Christian is struggling itself, the red-and-white Patriots had no trouble dispatching the home red-and-blue Patriots 66-27 in non-conference play Thursday night. "It was definitely one of those nights, but it's fine, those kinds of games just happen," Open Door coach Alan Januzzi said. "Up until this past week, we've been playing well and showing some bright spots, we'll get back to work and get back to that." Open Door (1-9) got off to a pretty good start in the first eight minutes and the first possession of the second period as it sat tied with Cornerstone Christian at 14. Junior Brayden Bendik had five points, including a 3-pointer to start the second, Dietrik Geyer added a pair of buckets for four points, freshman Liam Coughlin hit a 3-pointer and Zane Patten dropped in two points as Open Door hit six of its first 13 shots (46 percent) against a much taller and active Cornerstone squad. Bendik was the only home Patriot to finish in double figures with 12 points. Patten was next in line with six. That's when the train went off the track for Open Door, as it went just 2-of-11 (18 percent) in the second, 1-for-13 (8 percent) in the third and 2-of-13 (15 percent) in the fourth as Cornerstone (6-8) pulled away for the huge win. Shooting wasn't the only area hampering Open Door, as Cornerstone Christian won the rebound battle 46-22. The only Open Door buckets of the second came from Bendik and Clayton Schibley, while Cornerstone was led by a pair of baskets from behind the arc from Karson O'Leary and four points each from Darrien Davis and Alijiah Turner-West. Turner-West led all scorers with 19 points, including a stretch of 11 straight at the end of the third and start of the fourth. Davis netted 12 and O'Leary snuck into double digits with 10 points. Davis and Turner-West also dominated Open Door on the boards, finishing with 10 and eight, respectively. Despite the second-quarter shooting woes, Open Door was down only 13 at the half, but that deficit exploded to 45-23 going to the fourth as Patten had the only bucket of the third quarter and Bendik hit three free throws. "It was a little surreal for me out there coaching against Coach Januzzi," said Cornerstone coach Jack Kelsheimer, who played for Januzzi when he was at Lutheran West. "I have a lot of respect for him and I knew we had to get ready for them. "We knew we had to find a way to slow down No. 1 (Bendik), we even worked on a box-and-one at practice. We threw everything we could at him but could tell early that he was going to give us problems. I'm just glad we did as well as we did against him tonight." Contact James Brady at jbrady_ct@yahoo.com. CORNERSTONE 66, OPEN DOOR 27 CORNERSTONE CHRISTIAN (66): Darrien Davis 6-0-12, Jaxson Croyts 2-3-7, Karson O'Leary 3-1-10, Jaiden Burkholder 0-0-0, Aaron Gaga 1-0-2, Alijiah Turner-West 9-0-19, Kolsen Keeper 2-0-4, Antoine Warren 0-0-0, Sam Granda 2-0-3, RJ McCain 1-2-4, Ben Kinney 2-1-5. Totals 27-7-66. OPEN DOOR (27): Cooper Szwagulak 0-0-0, Brayden Bendik 3-5-12, Nikkos Poulos 0-0-0, Zane Patten 3-0-6, Liam Coughlin 1-0-3, Dietrik Geyer 2-0-4, Clayton Schibley 1-0-2, Caleb Woods 0-0-0. Totals 10-5-27. Cornerstone&emsp;14 &emsp;17&emsp;14&emsp;21&emsp;—&emsp;66 Open Door&emsp; 11 &emsp;7&emsp; 5 &emsp;4&emsp;—&emsp;27 Three-point goals: Cornerstone 5-15 (33 percent, O'Leary 3, Turner-West, Gandra), Open Door 2-19 (11 percent, Bendik, Coughlin). Field goals: Cornerstone 27-52 (52 percent); Open Door 10-48 (21 percent). Free throws: Cornerstone 7-11 (64 percent); Open Door 5-8 (63 percent). Rebounds: Cornerstone 46, Open Door 22 Turnovers: Cornerstone 9, Open Door 8 Fouled out: Keeper Junior varsity: Open Door, 18-11 (2Q).