The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Avon Lake surges to victory in second half
Avon Lake is buckled in tight for its rollercoaster ride of a season.
The Shoremen started the year with three losses, but responded with five straight wins. Three more losses followed before two more wins and another loss. Sitting at 7-7, they entered a road game at Bay on Jan. 27.
Tthis game itself was a bumpy ride, as Avon Lake had a tough first half and trailed by one, 20-19. The second half was a much different story, as the Shoremen looked like themselves and exploded for a 59-39 victory.
“The second half, we played the game how we wanted it to be played,” Avon Lake coach Eric Smith said. “We played the first half at their tempo, and we allowed them to slow the game down with their 2-3 zone. We weren’t patient, and we didn’t attack it. In the second half, we attacked the zone and got some good looks inside at the basket.”
Avon Lake thrives when the speed of the game picks up with its defensive pressure and transition buckets off of that. Bay was able to control the tempo in the first half with the zone and it didn’t allow the Shoremen to get out and run.
After trailing 9-3 early, the Rockets went on a 10-0 run to take the lead. The rest of the second quarter went exactly how they wanted it to go. Despite Avon Lake’s struggles scoring in the first half, the pace actually kept the game from getting away.
Coming out to start the second half, the Shoremen made a concerted effort to get the ball inside and then unleash their pressure defensively. Peyton Lerch isn’t a bad option to turn to, as he scored eight straight points out of the locker room to put them in front for good. The senior made his first six shots of the third on his way to a game-high 22 points.
“I think our coaches drilled it into us to feed the low block whenever the high post gets it,” Lerch said. “That led us to victory, getting them out of the zone because that slowed the pace down.”
… “Just staying positive and playing hard is huge. When we come out and don’t play our game, it’s pretty obvious. When we get the ball moving and play our game, playing fast, that’s when we usually come out on top.”
Getting the ball inside was the first thing Avon Lake was able to do, and the full-court pressure forced nine Bay turnovers in the third quarter alone. A few of Lerch’s baskets were off turnovers.
Bay coach Cale LaRiccia had spent the past nine seasons as an Avon Lake assistant, and he has coached every current Avon Lake player and knows exactly how the Shoremen thrive when things are going well. Unfortunately for him and the Rockets tonight, he knows exactly what it feels like to see Lerch get going.
“In full honesty, our game plan was to stop Lerch,” LaRiccia said. “In the first half, he only had five points. I thought we did a great job containing someone so great. Peyton erupting for 17 points (in the second half) was nothing short of what you’d expect if you don’t stop him.”
After Lerch’s mini run, Bay kept it close for a bit in the third quarter, but the game was all but over by the end it. Tyler Birk also had a solid game with 15 points, and he scored five straight to extend the lead to 14. Bay’s Evan Alexy also notched another good game under his belt with 14 points.
Avon Lake had just won two big conference games over Avon and Berea-Midpark, and confidence was at a high. However, the Shoremen hosted Midview on Jan. 26, and lost a close one. Without this win over Bay, that loss to the Middies would’ve stung for a week before the next game against Amherst on Feb. 2. This second half performance gave this weekend a much-needed boost.
“That was the great thing about it,” Smith said. “The great thing is that we don’t have to sit around for a week with that loss. We flushed it right away, get it out of there, and now we got a win today.”