Lorain boys basketball: Titans go quiet in second half as Warrensville Heights pulls away, 62-41

Lorain started the season losing its opening four games before rallying back with four wins in six.

At Warrensville Heights on Jan. 12, Lorain being able to steal a conference road win would have been a huge boost and put the team back within a game of .500 ball.

While the Tigers had a three-point lead at the half, Chris Brownlee Jr. and Warrensville began to pull away with an 11-4 run to close out the third quarter, eventually downing Lorain, 62-41.

The game was as close as 34-28 with 4:40 remaining in the third quarter when Warrensville Heights went on its run, with the Titans barely mustering any offense to counter the Tigers’ attack.

“We just couldn’t hit shots,” Lorain coach Matthew Kielian stated. “They just weren’t falling. We went down and played defense and (Warrensville) hit a couple of shots and and-ones. An eight-point deficit became a 12-point deficit and we just couldn’t recover.”

Lorain’s Jai’den Guerra-Howard had no problem finding the basket, with 17 points through three quarters of action. But with a 53-35 Tigers lead with a little more than four-and-a-half minutes left to play, the Titans couldn’t quite climb back into the contest.

“Jai’den’s been playing really well for us,” Kielian praised his senior guard. “It’s just tough – I mean, he had 17 (points), tried to carry us. The problem is we needed to figure out a way (to score) and we couldn’t find a way.

The two teams both went back-and-forth in the first quarter, with Lorain winding up with a one-point edge after eight minutes of action at 14-13.

While the Tigers went on a quick 6-0 run to open the second quarter, Guerra-Howard kept the Titans afloat as the lead kept flipping back-and-forth throughout the second quarter, leading Lorain with 11 first-half points.

Brownlee Jr. was able to knock through a few key shots to counter Guerra-Howard, putting the host Tigers up three going into halftime.

Lorain (4-7, 2-3) will return to action Jan. 16 at home against Westlake.

THE SCORE

Warrensville Heights 62, Lorain 41