Boys Basketball: Elyria shoots 69 percent in exciting victory over Amherst

AMHERST — One of the season's best battles took place Tuesday night in Southwestern Conference play. When the smoke cleared, Elyria hung on to win 90-77 in a real barnburner. The Pioneers shot a red-hot 69 percent from the floor while the Comets blistered the nets at a 52 percent clip. The Pioneers are 13-5, 8-3. Amherst is 11-8, 5-6. Believe it or not, the first game between the two ended with Elyria winning 57-51 after nearly blowing an early 27-14 lead. "Really proud of our guys for bouncing back from Saturday," Elyria coach Brett Larrick said of an overtime loss after having a big lead. "The effort, the smaller court and our fast start. We wanted to get out and go and I thought our guys set a tone early, offensively and defensively that first quarter." Elyria's start proved to be the difference at the end. The Pioneers jumped out to an 18-4 lead off an impressive 16-0 run and increased the margin to 31-16 by scoring the last eight points in the first quarter. "I can't wait to see what (Elyria's) percentage was for the game," said Amherst coach Pat Bray. "They shot the ball really, really well." Cam Bell scored 10 of his 17 points in the first quarter, going 4-for-4, including a pair of 3-pointers. Rondell Grimmett, who finished with 25 points, and Jeremiah Daniels, who scored 21, each tossed in eight points in the blistering first quarter. Those two combined to go 19-of-27 from the floor. It was Daniels who came through with a couple of key assists — one going to Grimmett — late in the game to preserve the lead. "We're both good organizations," Daniels said of the rivalry between the schools. "Both good teams. Some of us played with each other during AAU. It makes it harder and more competitive. It's been hard to win here. I don't think we've got a win here since our freshman year. It's a good celebration." Daniels was right about that, and even with the big lead early on, everyone knew Amherst wasn't about to quit. The Comets shook off eight turnovers in the first quarter to close the gap to 75-70 with 4:26 left in the game and had the Pioneers on their heels with their defense, but Elyria refused to fold, outscoring the Comets 15-7 to finish the deal. "Five-point game, give ourselves a chance," Bray said. "We needed one more stop. Those are those 50-50 balls. We have to make sure we can get those. We talked about it in the locker room. The first quarter's where we lost. We got ourselves so far behind, we fought back, but when you fight back, you use a lot of energy trying to do it." "We knew Pat would have his guys ready." Larrick said. "We told our guys they would make a comeback. They put their heads down and went right at us." Jack Coleman, perhaps the best sophomore in the county, wound up with 30 points for Amherst that included 14 in the second quarter. Junior Mason Lymer made four 3-pointers and finished with 20. They combined to make 20 field goals on 34 attempts. Contact Tim Gebhardt at (440) 329-7135 or timothygeb@msn.com. Elyria 90, Amherst 77 Elyria (90): Cam Bell 6-3-17, Rondell Grimmett 9-2-25, Jeremiah Daniels 10-0-21, Seth Wilkerson 2-1-5, Micah Jackson 6-0-16, Kendyll Compton 1-2-4, Christian Rogers 0-0-0, Ethan Rogers 1-0-2. Isaiah Hill 0-0-0. Totals 35-8-90. Amherst (77): Jack Coleman 13-2-30, David Dudziak 2-4-8, Stanley Robinson 3-0-7, Mason Lymer 7-2-20, Andrew Balicki 3-2-8, Gavin Beckler 2-0-4, Cole Scanlon 0-0-0, Cy Christensen 0-0-0, Peyton Leibacher 0-0-0, Christian Vorhees 0-0-0. Totals 30-10-77. Elyria&emsp;31&emsp;22&emsp;18&emsp;19&emsp;—&emsp;90 Amherst&emsp;16&emsp;23&emsp;25&emsp;13&emsp;—&emsp;77 Three-point goals: Elyria 12-22 (Grimmett 5, Jackson 4, Bell 2, Daniels), Amherst 7-22 (Lymer 4, Coleman 2, Robinson). Field goals: Elyria 35-51 (69 percent), Amherst 30-58 (52 percent). Free throws: Elyria 8-12 (66 percent), Amherst 10-11 (91 percent). Rebounds: Elyria 26 (Wilkerson 8), Amherst 21 (Balicki 5). Turnovers: Elyria 18, Amherst 15. Fouls: Elyria 11, Amherst 10. Junior varsity: Amherst, 67-48.