Five takeaways from a weekend of watching Lorain

Michael Fitzpatrick

January 28, 2019 @ 11:00 AM

It would appear the reigning Division I state runner-up is ready to make another run this year after watching the Lorain Titans win back-to-back games against Warrensville and local-rival, Clearview. The Titans, ranked No. 9 in Division I in the current prephoops.com poll, beat Warrensville 80-64 and Clearview 86-55. They improved to 12-1 with the wins and are a perfect 6-0 in the Lake Erie League. Here are five things I learned about Lorain I didn’t know: They handle the ball extremely well In the win over Clearview, the Titans committed just four turnovers. Time after time the Titans would have multiple touches before scoring. Everyone in first six of the rotation can handle at a high level. They make the smart pass, but can get a little careless when going for Sports Center-type plays. Kam Davis (2019) is the most underrated player on the starting five Undersized at just 5-8, the senior guard/forward is a total glue guy for the team who is its best defender. He often guards the opponents’ best scorer. Against Warrensville, his solid defense against 6-3 Brandon Rush helped limit the Farleigh Dickinson recruit to seven points, way below his average. He always makes the smart play on offense and is solid with the ball as the coaches like to say. He did make two 3's in Warrensville win. They have to go through St. Vincent-St. Mary in the Division I Akron Regional Last year it was St. Edward, this year it’s St. V. The two aren't strangers. The Irish handed the Titans their only loss of the year earlier this winter. Taevon Pierre-Louis is way underrated. The 6-5 senior had some highlight plays in the two wins including three dunks against Clearview that were all mixtape worthy. In the win over Lake Erie League rival Warrensville he collected 12 rebounds. Off of many of those rebounds, he was able to lead the fast break and facilitate the offense or just run to the rack and score. He’s a definite Junior College prospect, but an elite level one. His high school coach John Rositano said that a JUCO power out of Kansas was coming into scout Pierre-Louis this week. The young players are filling their rolls The Titans sophomores Deonte Benejan and Aiden Brown and juniors Aaron Whitehead and Jordan Jackson have all shown development through the season. Benejan (2020), a 6-1 guard who transferred into Lorain from New York, starts and averages 14.3 points a game. He has a nice jump shot and can finish through contact with his great body control. Brown (2021) is an active 6-3 power forward who is developing offensive skills but is already a strong rebounder at both ends of the court. Aaron Whitehead (2020), a 6-1 guard, is a prototypical point guard. Real crafty with the ball and a really good passer. Jordan Jackson (2020), a 6-5 forward, is a really solid player. He’s very good with the ball in the open court, can shoot it from outside and can also finish inside. He’s also a very good passer. Devon Grant is the man He could be the best guard in the state of Ohio, although prephoops.com has him ranked as the No. 23 player in his class and the 13th best guard. He shoots it, dribbles it, passes it, and is just so flawless with the ball it's almost magical to watch. He shoots better than 90 percent at the line. In scoring 21 points against Warrensville he got 11 at the line and didn’t miss a free throw. During one second-quarter stretch in the win over Clearview, he scored 15 straight points hitting on three 3-pointers during the outburst. He also had a self-assisted dunk tossing the ball off the backboard to himself for a self-assisting dunk. The Miami-of-Ohio bound guard finished with seven rebounds, a steal and three assists in the win over Clearview. He had five steals in the win over Warrensville. He was averaging 28.3 points per game entering the weekend.