Boys basketball: Elyria plays Berea-Midpark in another high-stakes SWC game

ELYRIA — It's becoming a habit for Elyria and Berea-Midpark to hook up for a big game this time of year. For the third straight season, the two will play in Berea with the Southwestern Conference championship hanging in the balance. For a change, though, the winner won't decide who wears the crown. There's one more game and one other team still involved in this year's SWC race. "Good players on both teams," Elyria coach Brett Larrick said of the recent rivalry with the Titans. "Our guys know them, they know us. It's been obviously fun for us the last couple years. First game this year, they came in with a chip on their shoulder because of the last two years. These games mean something. They're important." Elyria, Berea-Midpark and Olmsted Falls are tied with 9-3 SWC records going into tonight's action. Olmsted Falls (12-7) hosts Midview (2-17, 0-13 SWC) before tangling with North Ridgeville (11-7, 6-6) next week on the Rangers' floor. The Pioneers (15-5) finish up at home next week against Avon (14-5, 7-5) while the Titans (12-7) wrap up at home against Avon Lake (7-13, 3-9). "This conference has a lot of good teams," Larrick said. "I said weeks ago, we have to worry about us. Our things and what we do and how we play, how consistent we are. We've never talked about anybody else or looked at the scoreboard for anybody else. Even this game, it's how are we going to play, how are we going to defend, how hard are we going to play." Avon Lake tripped up Olmsted Falls 10 days ago. Avon knocked off Berea-Midpark at the end of January and Amherst notched wins over both earlier in the season. Elyria's losses have been to the other contenders — twice against Olmsted Falls and once to Berea-Midpark. The Pioneers are coming off an 82-72 win over Westlake in non-conference play but Larrick knows his team has to play their game and be consistent to be successful. "We set ourselves up in a good position for the tournament draw and for the end of the conference," he said. "It's on us. I've been preaching this is us. We're not worrying about anyone else and literally it's worrying about us right now. We come out, we've got to have that mindset — every game, every practice." Elyria and Berea-Midpark are similar, although the Titans don't seem to press or trap as much under Tom Harrington, who took over for Kevin Braaten just before the season started. Both teams have great shooters. The Titans are led by the school's all-time career scoring leader in junior Nick Reese, who scored 36 points in the first meeting, won 73-60 by Berea-Midpark. The Titans pulled away in the fourth quarter after Elyria had taken a 45-39 lead with two minutes left in the third. Reese scored 14 of his points in the final quarter as B-M outscored Elyria 34-15 over the last 10 minutes. Junior Tyson Clay scored 15 and junior Reid Braaten 13. Meanwhile, Elyria had only one player in double figures — Kendyll Compton with 13. Tuesday, at Westlake, the Pioneers had six players in double figures led by Rondell Grimmett and Seth Wilkerson with 14 apiece. Last season's finale turned out to be a wild affair with Elyria nearly blowing a 77-58 lead in the final 3:47. Clay buried a half dozen 3-pointers and scored 24 points in rallying the Titans to tie the game at 83. Senior Jayden Crutcher led the Pioneers with 33 points, including the game-winning basket and free throw that won the game 86-83. Two years ago, Elyria prevailed 81-72, with Daniels scoring 18 points. Since Elyria joined the SWC in 2021, the teams have met nine times with the Pioneers winning six. Tonight's battle should be a good one. Elyria's probable starters are seniors Cam Bell (6-foot-3), Rondell Grimmett (6-3), Jeremiah Daniels (6-1) and Kendyll Compton (6-5) along with either junior Seth Wilkerson (6-2) or junior Tink Shelton (5-5). The Rogers brothers — senior Christian (5-10) and sophomore Ethan (6-1) along with freshman Micah Jackson (6-1) will log plenty of playing time. "They have a good team," said Bell, who has been involved in every game since his freshman year. "My sophomore year, we were able to go in there and beat 'em for the championship and last year they came in here and we were able to get it done. Both years it came down to the last game — whoever won got the conference. Obviously a lot of big games have been played between us and this one's not any different." "Definitely the competition," said Daniels when asked what he likes about playing the Titans. "We've all played each other for a couple years going on. The crowd gets into it and makes it very intense and competitive." "We play a lot of guys," Larrick said. "We can go 11 if we need to, especially scoring-wise. So many guys can do different things." Three Elyria players average over 12 points a game (Compton, Daniels and Grimmett), while two others average over nine. The Titans counter with Reese (6-0), Clay (5-10), Braaten (6-3), senior Diggy Maddox (6-2) and junior Dre Alexander (5-10). Seniors Cal Maloney (6-3) and Vinnie Weaver (6-2) are the first off the bench. Elyria averages 74 points a game and gives up 61. B-M averages 69 points a game and gives up 61. Elyria is shooting 49 percent from the floor and 38 percent from the 3-point line. The Titans are shooting 44 percent overall and 35 percent from three. The Pioneers have 323 assists on the year to 238 turnovers while Berea-Midpark averages 13 assists and 11 turnovers a game. "We're concentrating on one game," Larrick said. "We know we have a really tough one (tonight) with Berea and then we really have one after that which is a really tough Avon. We can't talk about Avon until after this week. You can't look past anybody in this league — too good of players, too good of coaches." Contact Tim Gebhardt at (440) 329-7135 or timothygeb@msn.com.