In its final home game of the season, Elyria made it count. The Pioneers trailed, 14-7, early, but ratcheted up their defensive intensity and rolled to a 76-42 win in a Division I sectional final on Feb. 25.
The No. 11 seeded Pioneers (18-6) advance to the Lakewood District semifinals at 7 p.m. on March 1 against the winner of No. 1 St. Edward and No. 23 Medina Highland.
Elyria defeated Midview on the road just eight days ago, 60-51. This is their third win of the season over the Middies (13-11), and it was a dominant performance.
“Just go down the line, I don’t want to forget anybody,” Elyria coach Brett Larrick said. “That was an absolute best version of a team.”
There were some unforgettable performances for the Pioneers in their 14th win in 15 games. Jayden Crutcher led Elyria with 26 points and made his final seven shots in the second half. Mateo Medina provided energy on both ends of the floor and finished with 22 points. Ryan Walsh took a little bit to get going, but he ran the offense well and still had 14 points.
Those three combined for 62 of the team's 76 points, but everybody top to bottom stepped up for the Pioneers to win big.
The game got off to a sluggish start with Elyria leading 7-2 after making five free throws. In a flip of a switch like Midview can, it got hot from 3-point range. The Middies started 4-4 from 3 and made all four in a row. Ryan Runser made the first two, and David Moore and Drew DiFranco made the other two to jump out to a 14-7 advantage. Medina and BJ Todd scored for Elyria to make it 16-13 at the end of the first quarter.
The Middies looked gamed to pull off the upset, but the game entirely changed in the second quarter. Elyria came out and started defending well, pressuring Midview's guards and making them run offense from nearly the half-court line. Steven Furcron made a layup and Medina hit a triple to give Elyria the lead.
"We started fast and we knew that they would respond," Larrick said. "In between the first and second quarters, we just asked for a little more pressure. I thought we did a really good job of extending their offense further out, getting our hands on the ball on the passes, deflections, covering for each other. When we can defend that hard, rebound the ball and get out in transition and run, good things happen."
Due to Elyria's suffocating defense and some calls that didn't go their way, the Middies lost all composure. Walsh scored his first points and Crutcher made his first field goal of the game to go up 22-16. Herman Plas got called for a moving screen and a technical foul to gain his second and third fouls, forcing him to the bench. Walsh made the technical free throws and Crutcher scored again to boost the lead up to 10.
After trailing, 14-7, the Pioneers went on a 24-4 run to take a 31-18 lead.
"We never could get our composure back," Midview coach Jim Brabenec said. "We came out with some energy, came out with some pride. When they went on their little run, we couldn't match. We couldn't give them that run."
DiFranco cut the deficit back down to 31-21 after an and-one, but Elyria scored seven of the final eight points of the half to go up by 16.
Not much changed in the second half either, as the Pioneers started the third quarter on an 11-0 run. Runser and Marc Reed tried to spark Midview down the stretch of the third, but Medina scored six straight points and Crutcher made a 3-pointer at the buzzer to make it 65-34.
"We really got in the huddle and said that we had to pick it up," Medina said. "It doesn't matter if it's 11, nine, we had to pick it up. We're not losing this tournament, we had to keep it going."
Crutcher made three more shots to start the fourth quarter, and was taken out with the lead up to 36. He made his final seven shots and ended the game on fire.
"It feels good because we needed that rhythm in order to win and keep the lead going," Crutcher said.
Walsh and Furcron played in their final home as the two senior captains and got subbed out at the end with a nice applause. A 34-point win isn't too shabby for a way to go out.
Crutcher led all scorers with his 26 points, including four 3-pointers. Medina only missed one shot and had an efficient 22 points leading the strong defensive play. Walsh didn't have to score as much with the others making shots, and he coasted to 14 points. Runser also scored 14 points to lead the Middies.
"I'm very excited with how far we've come," Medina said. "We started off 4-5 and we're 14-1 in our last 15 games. I think this is the best we've ever played and we can continue to get better."
