by High School Sports coverage at Kee On Sports is brought to you by these fine sponsors – https://keeonsports.com/sponsors/
CLEVELAND, Ohio– St. Ignatius celebrated a district championship Saturday night following a 56-52 win over Lorain. The Wildcats couldn’t celebrate the win without thinking of teammate Mike Mattimore.
The senior guard is still in the hospital following surgery Monday morning after having his appendix removed. The win made it that much more special for Joyce and his team.
“We wanted to go out today and give it all for Mike,” Joyce said. “He is a big reason why we got to this game…we just wanted to go out win and give another game to Mike.”
“I’m so excited for these guys, it’s a credit to their work,” he added. “We’re not done yet…I’m so happy for the players, the coaching staff and especially Mike Mattimore.”
Joyce noticed during film earlier in the week that the Titans struggled with facing pressure. So the Wildcats came out and set a tone early on, making things difficult for Lorain offensively, resulting in a slew of turnovers in the first quarter. With that, the Wildcats held the Titans to just two points in the opening eight minutes, gaining an 11-2 lead early.
“Obviously you got two really good guards in Billings and Wilson and I thought we needed to keep pressuring and having a body on them,” he said. “That was huge, we wanted to pressure them all game.”
End of 1st: St. Ignatius 11, Lorain 2.
Titans can’t get anything going on offense following a slew of turnovers early on. pic.twitter.com/vkwxbNjfry— Michael Trivisonno (@MichaelTriv_) March 7, 2021
As the game went on, some of the Titans were able to settle in a little bit. A Jamir Billings 3-pointer with just over four minutes left in the first half got the Titans within one. From there, the Wildcats ended the half on a 10-2 run, following five straight points from junior guard Jon Effertz.
With senior guard and West Virginia commit Seth Wilson struggling offensively through the first three quarters, Billings stepped up when his number was called. He scored nine points in the third quarter to get his team within six heading into the fourth quarter.
The Wildcats held an eight-point lead early on in the fourth, but back-to-back 3-pointers from Billings cut the deficit to two with four minutes left.
“He made play after play on both ends of the court,” Lorain coach John Rositano said, who coached his final game at Lorain Saturday night.
“I was just trying to keep us in the game,” Billings explained. “I’m a senior and I didn’t want to go out. But I didn’t do enough in the end to help us get the win.”
Jamir Billings connects on back-to-back 3s putting the Titans within two, 40-38 with under 5 mins left in the 4th. @lorainathletics pic.twitter.com/6rRxnoVGqu
— Michael Trivisonno (@MichaelTriv_) March 7, 2021
As the quarter went on, the Titans weren’t able to tie or maintain a lead with the Wildcats in the bonus and the team connecting on nine free throws in the fourth quarter alone.
A Seth Wilson 3-pointer got the Titans within five with 58 seconds left, but Effertz and Henry Raynor kept a lead that was too big to overcome for Lorain with under 30 seconds left as they converted on their free throw opportunites.
Effertz ended the game with a team-high 19 points. Raynor finished with 17 points along with 8 points from Braydn Szczepaniak.
A spark for the Wildcats in the second half was from Raynor. He was able to secure second-chance points along with making plays on the defensive side of the ball that really took the momentum in favor of the Wildcats.
“I respect him, especially now that he is a senior,” Effertz said about Raynor. “In times of need of leadership, he always takes charge. In times when other teams were making runs, he stepped up and did what he needed to do and played well.”
For Lorain, Billings led the way with a game-high 21 points, including knocking down five 3-pointers. Wilson added 11 along with six points from De’Vante Jackson.
A slow start proved to be too much to overcome for Rositano and his team, explaining that the first quarter was the difference in Saturday night’s loss.
“I thought we lost the game in the first quarter,” Rositano said. “I thought we had to get off to a good start…we just couldn’t get going.”
As for the Wildcats, it’s their first trip to the regional stage since 2016. For Raynor, it was a special moment to be able to win a district championship for the first time as a player, especially in front of a home crowd.
“It means the world to me, I never made it this far in the playoffs,” he said. “It’s not over yet. We’ll celebrate tonight, go back to work Monday and we got a big game on Wednesday.”
