No. 2 Lorain bounces back for 75-71 win at No. 9 Cleveland Heights

CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio — The week was intense.

It shaped Lorain for Friday night's 75-71 boys basketball win at Lake Erie League-rival Cleveland Heights.

The Titans (10-1, 5-0), ranked No. 2 in the cleveland.com Top 25, had the week to digest their first loss of the season Sunday to top-ranked St. Vincent-St. Mary and prepare for a bigger game in terms of its LEL title hopes.

Senior point guard Devon Grant scored a game-high 28 points, hit the go-ahead free throws and two more clinching free throws in the final 30 seconds. Taevon Pierre-Louis provided some of the muscle against a bigger lineup, and Lorain survived showdown at Cleveland Heights (6-4, 3-1).

"Every practice felt like games this week," Pierre-Louis said. "It was big. I'm proud of our team."

Lorain arrived Friday night with a 30-point burst in the first quarter. The Titans' lead grew to 36-18 in the second quarter.

"That was a tough loss the other night," Lorain coach John Rositano said. "These guys were upset about it and it showed in the first half with the way we played."

Rositano just feared his team might expend too much energy and his players get in foul trouble. Both happened, as the Tigers chipped away at their deficit. They trailed by 16 at halftime and just seven after the third quarter.

Heights took the lead with three minutes left in the fourth on Nigel Martin's drive to the basket.

The final stretch became a possession-by-possession chess match, and Grant drew a foul after pulling in a defensive rebound that put him to the line to tie the score. He returned again to the line with 29.5 seconds left after drawing a foul while sizing up his defender in a half-court set with a tie score. Grant nailed both free throws for a 71-69 lead.

An errant Heights pass in the backcourt gave the ball back to Lorain, and Jordan Jackson hit two more free throws.

Lorain held on, and Grant made 9-of-10 free throws in the fourth quarter.

They also beat a program that swept them twice last season to win the LEL championship.

Pierre-Louis said he and his teammates always remember who beats them. Even after their run to last year's Division I state semifinals, he wanted to beat Heights.

"That's just us, though," Pierrie-Louis said.

Junior guard Deonte Benejan scored 15 points, including three second-quarter 3s. Pierre-Louis finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds against a surprisingly bigger Heights lineup. That's because 6-foot-4 senior Anthony Johnson — a Division I college football recruit — made his basketball debut.

"Our game plan was for a whole different lineup," Pierre-Louis said. "We just made the adjustments and got the job done."

Johnson initiated much of the Heights offense and gave the Tigers four starters standing at least 6-4. Two of the others, Martin and Louisville commit Jae'Lyn Withers, combined for 40 points. Martin had 21 points and 12 rebounds. Withers added 19 and six.

Heights coach Michael Cruz said an injury kept Johnson from making his debut sooner.

"We thought about playing him in the (Canton) McKinley game," he said, referring to last Saturday, "but we thought we might as well keep him in our back pocket at that point."

Rositano said seeing him in the warmup line provided a surprise.

"We never saw him before the game," Rositano said. "I don't know where they got him, but the kid's a monster out there and another guy who we had to somehow deal with his physicality. It causes some issues, but it's a credit to our guys. That's what elite teams do."

Contact sports reporter Matt Goul on Twitter (@mgoul) or email ([email protected]). Or log in and leave a message below in the comments section.