Lorain boys basketball: Titans look for consistency in back half of season

Multiple games have gotten away from Lorain in the second half this season. That’s something it’s trying to change down the home stretch.

Sitting at 5-7 entering a difficult part of the schedule, the Titans are looking for more consistency. They’ve shown the ability to hang with some of the area’s best for a half. With 10 games left, this team wants to compete across four quarters and have a chance to win in the final minutes.

“We’ve shown that we can compete,” Lorain coach Matt Kielian said. “But we haven’t really shown against the good teams that we can do it for four quarters. It’s important that we take a game like this (a 59-46 win over Westlake on Jan. 16) and build on it. It’s about consistency and about competing. It’s important that we hammer that home.”

Lorain is led by veterans who are trying to end their careers on the right note. Jai’den Guerra-Howard and Asiah Kielian have lived up to their expectations this season as leaders of this basketball team, and other seniors such as Ike Rowser and Sae’vonn Brown have had good seasons.

They realize that this is it for them. In recent memory, some talented Lorain players have led their teams on a postseason run and have become legends. It’s unknown how this year’s group will fair in the playoffs, but they want to leave it all out there for four quarters.

“I’m just leaving it all on the floor,” Guerra-Howard said. “I don’t just want to have a good senior year, but for the team, not just my stats. It starts with me so they can all lead. … That’s what we’ve been working, playing all four quarters, playing throughout.”

The Titans play a hard schedule every season, including the gauntlet of the Lake Erie League and nonconference games with the best of the best from the Southwestern Conference. It hasn’t been kind to them thus far, and it won’t be down the stretch with some very tough contests.

It starts with a home game against Maple Heights on Jan. 23. The win over Westlake earlier this week was Lorain’s second home win of the season. The other came against Bedford on Jan. 5.

“We’ve had a rough start with home games, I think this our second win at home,” Rowser said. “We just have to keep continuing to grow from here.”

After the rematch with Maple Heights, the Titans get only two days off before traveling to Garfield Heights on Jan. 25. The rematch with the Mustangs was postponed from Jan. 19 due to weather.

Although the first meeting against Maple got out of hand rather quickly, Lorain hung right with Garfield for a half before fading in the second half. That’s not to mention upcoming conference games against Warrensville Heights and Bedford, and matchups with the SWC’s three best teams currently in Avon, Elyria and Berea-Midpark.

The Titans are going to be tested, and while they’ve shown they can compete for a half, they need to crank the intensity up a notch to get some wins.

“It’s just building on our successes and turning our weaknesses into strengths,” Kielian said. “It’s about competing and moving on to the next play. I think it’s important to realize this is it. For our seniors, this is it. We’re trying to ascend and get better every week heading into the tournament. We’ll see what happens then.”