Chris SweeneyThe Chronicle-Telegram

COLUMBIA STATION —The setting was the only thingdifferent for Columbia on Fri-day night.

Hosting Lutheran West withcontrol of the Patriot AthleticConference Stripes Divisionon the line, the Raiders fal-tered in the second-to-lastconference game of the seasonfor the second year in a row,this time losing on their homefloor 44-42.

The win gives Lutheran Westa share of the division title at13-2 in the PAC, 16-4 overall.The Longhorns can clinch thedivision outright with a winagainst Brooklyn on Tuesday— just as they did last yearagainst Black River after beat-ing Columbia on their homefloor.

Columbia falls to 12-3 in thePAC, 13-7 overall and wouldneed to beat Buckeye on Feb.27 paired with a Lutheran Westloss on Tuesday to share thetitle.

“Heading into this year all Iwanted to do was beatLutheran West so badly,” saidColumbia senior Kevin Simon,who scored a team-high with10 points and added fiverebounds. “It was just right onmy mind every single day. Wementally weren’t there tonight,we missed some shots andturned it over, it wasn’t good.”

It’s on, finally

Floyd Mayweatherannounces he will fightManny Pacquiao onMay 2 at the MGM inLas Vegas.Page D2

Saturday,February 21,

2015

Section

DW W W . C H R O N I C L E T . C O M

In this section:

In section E:

BowlingPage D7

SportsPage E1

BOYS BASKETBALLBROWNS

ElyriaCatholic’sJacob Kuchta,left, shootsover RockyRiver’s SuttonKlodnickduring thePanthers’ lossFriday night.EC was stillable to clinch ashare of theWest ShoreConferencetitle in theleague’s finalseason.

CautiousapproachTeam expected to avoidred flags after 2014 draft

Scott PetrakThe Chronicle-Telegram

INDIANAPOLIS — A littledirt under the fingernails isone thing.

Submerged in a swamp issomething completely different.

The importance of characterin the draft process is anannual point of discussion atthe NFL scouting combine. It’sa hot-button issue this year forthe Browns.

Quarterback Johnny Manzielis in rehab. Cornerback JustinGilbert has a “very personal”issue, according to coach MikePettine.

They were the first two picksof Ray Farmer’s tenure as gen-eral manager — Gilbert atNo. 8, Manziel at No. 22. Bothselections came after tradingaway a draft pick to move up totake them.

They combined for waymore headaches than theircombined four starts and twotouchdowns — one for each.By the end of their rookie sea-sons, teammates were blastingthem publicly and sayingmajor changes were necessaryif they wanted to save theircareers.

It only seems natural theBrowns would err on the sideof caution during the draft

April 30-May 2 and avoid guyswith a criminal history or anyother red flags in the characterdepartment.

“There’s a danger in that,that if you just say, ‘We’re onlygoing to add players to our ros-ter who are in the NationalHonor Society and the schoolchoir,’” Pettine said this week.“You look across the league, it’snot just the league, it’s societyin general. It’s rare you’re goingto have somebody who hasimpeccable, clean character.It’s all risk-reward, you’ve got toweigh it.

“As a team, that’s why we’rehere doing these interviews.We’ve had some players whohave had some issues and youlook to learn from it. But at thesame time I don’t think you canjust knee-jerk react and go theexact other direction and any-body that has any type of redflag you shy away from.”

Perhaps not, but the Brownsmight be well-advised to pro-ceed with care with theirfirst-round picks, Nos. 12 and19. That would mean removingtop-rated quarterback JameisWinston from the draft boardafter a checkered tenure atFlorida State, including a sex-ual assault allegation.

See BROWNS, D2

CAVALIERS 127, WIZARDS 89

AP

Cleveland’s LeBron James dunks during a victoryat Washington on Friday night.

2nd half startswith big victory

Jason LloydAkron Beacon Journal (TNS)

WASHINGTON — The sec-ond-half push to the postsea-son began with a two-handedslam. The Cleveland Cavaliersreturned from the All-Starbreak looking every bit assharp as the team that endedthe first half as one of thehottest teams in the league.

LeBron James had 28 points,six assists and five rebounds inonly 25 minutes, Kyrie Irvinghad 25 points and seven assistsand the Cavs ambushed theWashington Wizards on Friday127-89 to move a half-gameahead of them and into fourthplace in the East. It narrowlymissed as the most lopsidedvictory of the season, but theCavs beat the Charlotte Hor-nets by 39 earlier this season.

The Cavs have won 15 oftheir past 17 games, and moreimportantly hold a 2-1 edge onthe Wizards in any tiebreakerscenarios. The teams will meet

once more in the season finaleat Quicken Loans Arena.

“We’re rounding third basegoing into the final stretch ofthe regular season,” Jamessaid. “That should be enoughof an edge. Understanding howimportant every game is for usto get better going into thepostseason.”

The Cavs have struggled onthe road this season, entering

NEXT UPWHO: Clevelandvs. New York KnicksWHEN: Sunday, 1 p.m.WHERE: Madison SquareGarden, New YorkTV/RADIO: FS Ohio;WEOL 930-AM,WTAM 1100-AM,WMMS 100.7-FM,La Mega 87.7-FM

See CAVS, D3

STEVE MANHEIM / CHRONICLE

A loss,but a winEC drops WSC finale, yet still shares league crown

Joel HammondThe Chronicle-Telegram

ROCKY RIVER — Not a whole heck of alot went rightfor ElyriaCatholic on Fri-day night —until about 9:20p.m., when thePanthers were on the bus home.

That about sums up one of the wildestWest Shore Conference seasons onrecord, fitting, since it was the league’slast.

Needing a win to ensure at least a shareof the final WSC crown, the Panthersstarted flat against Rocky River and fellbehind by as many as 17 early in thefourth quarter. They rallied to cut it to six,but got no closer as the Pirates won 62-49.

Twenty minutes later and seven milesaway at Bay, though, North Ridgeville fin-ished off an upset overtime win over theRockets, meaning the Panthers wouldshare the league championship with theRockets. It’s EC’s first league crown of anykind since 2002.

Midview made it a three-way tie, as its

win over Lakewood earlier in the nightallowed the Middies also to finish at 9-5in WSC play.

“Every team was stacked in our confer-ence, and it was difficult and competitivefrom the first game of the season on,”said EC senior James Tirbaso, who alongwith Jacob Kuchta led the Panthers with10 points. “Everyone could beat every-one. To win a share of the conference isdefinitely a point of pride. Of course wewish we could have won tonight, but we’lltake it.”

MIDVIEW 83,LAKEWOOD 73

ROCKY RIVER 62,EC 49

See EC, E1

Middiessharecrown

Bob DanielsThe Chronicle-Telegram

EATON TWP. — On the finalnight of basketball in the finalyear of existence for the WestShore Conference, underdogMidview still had a chance totie for the championship.

But it was a long shot,because some things had to fallinto place.

So, improbably perhaps,they fell perfectly Friday nightand the Middies today sharethe title with Elyria Catholicand Bay.

First, Midview (13-9, 9-5WSC) came from behind to pinan 83-73 loss on Lakewood.Second, EC lost on the road toRocky River and Bay lost inovertime at North Ridgeville.

After they heard the news intheir locker room, the Middiesreturned to the court and cutdown the home-end net in aloud and animated celebra-tion. It is their third WSCchampionship or sharethereof.

They did it with a 27-pointperformance by Daimion

See MIDDIES, D4

Longhorns clinch title

DAVID RICHARD / CHRONICLE

Lutheran West’s Andrew O’Hara tries to get aroundColumbia’s Justin Tacchite, left, and Brian Hersheyduring a win Friday night.

INSIDECENTURY CITY: Elyria High scores over 100 points inrout of Mayfield. D4’CATS CRUMBLE: Keystone loses to Buckeye,squanders opportunity to clinch PAC Stars Division. D4EAGLES FALL: North Olmsted misses chance atSouthwestern Conference title in loss to Berea-Midpark.D4UPSET SPECIAL: North Ridgeville gets 38 points fromIsa Abdul-Alim and beats Bay to prevent Rockets fromoutright West Shore Conference title. D5

See CLINCH, E1

The Chronicle-Telegram Saturday, February 21, 2015 E1SPORTS

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Deadline isDeadline isTuesday, March 17, 2015Tuesday, March 17, 2015

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BASEBALL

AP

Oakland catcher Luke Carlin, a former Indians player, participates in a drill Fridayduring training camp.

Pace of game addressedRonald Blum

The Associated Press

NEW YORK — Major LeagueBaseball is slowly addressingthe lagging pace of games.

MLB and the players’ asso-ciation announced an agree-ment Friday to enforce therule requiring a hitter to keepat least one foot in the batter’sbox in many cases. MLB alsowill post stadium clocks tim-ing pitching changes andbetween-inning breaks start-ing in spring training, and itno longer will require man-agers to always come onto thefield when they request videoreviews by umpires.

But the sides limited penal-ties to warnings and fines, andnot automatic balls andstrikes. The fines don’t startuntil May 1 and are capped at$500 per offense.

Many of the more radicalideas experimented with dur-ing the Arizona Fall Leaguewere not adopted, such as a20-second clock betweenpitches, a limitation ofpitcher’s mound conferencesinvolving catchers and man-agers, and no-pitch inten-tional walks.

Still, even the modestchanges are too much forplayers, used to their routinesand reluctant to alter them.

“If you rush a hamburger,it’s not going to be completelydone. There are going to betoo many mistakes. You’re

going to rush the game. Itwould just be terrible. I don’tthink there needs to be a timelimit,” Miami Marlins pitcherMat Latos said.

Said Chicago White Sox out-fielder Adam Eaton: “I’m not abig fan. There’s a lot of think-ing involved. When a pitchersteps on the rubber, there’s alot going on. There’s thinkingin the dugout, the coaches,everyone. Why speed thatup?”

Baseball has been contem-plating the issue for nearly adecade. In February 2005, thebatter’s box rule wasannounced as an experimentin the minor leagues.

Still, the average time ofnine-inning games asincreased to a record 3 hours,2 minutes last year, up from2:33 in 1981.

Detroit Tigers ace Justin Ver-lander says the change will betougher on batters than pitchers.

“I hope it screws up theirwhole rhythm and every-thing,” he said, jokingly.

MLB cannot make unilat-eral changes to playing ruleswithout the consent of theplayers’ union unless it givesone year prior notice, so anagreement was necessary forany 2015 alterations. TheWorld Umpires Associationalso approved.

“The players believe thatenforcing the rules that cur-rently exist regarding

between-inning breaks andplate appearances is the bestway to address the issue ofpace of play,” union head TonyClark said in a statement.“We’re confident that today’sannouncements will have apositive impact on the pace ofthe game without jeopardiz-ing the integrity of the compe-tition.”

The pitch clock will be usedin the minor leagues at Dou-ble-A and Triple-A, whereunion approval isn’t needed.

MLB said it is likely toannounce only fines involvingrepeat flagrant violators. Inthe AFL, strikes and balls werecalled as penalties, and theaverage game time wasreduced by 10 minutes.

The rule requiring hitter’skeep a foot in the box containsmany exceptions, includingswinging at a pitch, gettingforced out by a pitch, callingtime, faking a bunt and wildpitches and passed balls.

Clocks will be installed onor near outfield scoreboardsand on facades behind homeplate, near most press boxes.Inning breaks will be counteddown from 2:25 for locally tel-evised games and 2:45 fornationally televised games.Pitchers must throw their lastwarmup pitches before 30seconds remaining, withexceptions if the pitcher orcatcher is on base when theprevious half-inning ends.

HIGH SCHOOL ROUNDUP

EC’s McCaffrey is5th at district meet

CLEVELAND — The Elyria Catholic boysswim team finished in 13th place with 61 pointsin the Division II district meet at Cleveland StateUniversity.

Kevin McCaffrey took fifth place in the100-yard breaststroke and seventh place in the200 individual medlay.

The girls finished in 14th place with 49 points.Jacqueline Lester took sixth place in the

100-yard backstroke and the 400-yard medleyrelay place in eighth.

The top individuals and relays per event plus16 at-large individuals and relays qualify to thestate tournament at C.T. Branin Natatorium inCanton.

ELYRIA CATHOLIC BOYS RESULTS200 MEDLEY RELAY: 9. Elyria Catholic (Charles Splain, Kevin

McCaffrey, Peter Velasquez, Brian O’Dell) 1:46.91; 200 INDIVIDUALMEDLEY: 7. Kevin McCaffrey (EC) 2:00.97; 100 FREE: 25. BrianO’Dell (EC) 52.58; 200 FREE RELAY: 16. Elyria Catholic (CharlesSplain, Kevin McCaffrey, Peter Velasquez, Brian O’Dell) 1:37.26; 100BACK: 26. Charles Splain (EC) 1:01.15; 100 BREST: 5. KevinMcCaffrey (EC) 1:00.77.

ELYRIA CATHOLIC GIRLS RESULTS200 MEDLEY RELAY: 14. Elyria Catholic (Jacqueline Lester, Julia

Tollet, Ally Decker, Ashley Watson) 2:0028; 200 FREE: 13. JuliaTollet (EC) 2:02.68; 100 FREE: 17. Jacqueline Lester (EC) 56.58; 500FREE: 13. Julia Tollet (EC) 5:28.34; 200 FREE RELAY: 18. ElyriaCatholic (Taylor Cruz, Logan Haywood, Ashley Watson, Ally Decker)1:52.02; 100 BACK: 6. Jacqueline Lester (EC) 1:01.58; 400 FREERELAY: 8. Elyria Catholic (Jacqueline Lester, Julia Tollet, Ally Decker,Ashley Watson) 3:55.21.

Boys basketball

Olmsted Falls 53, Avon Lake 43

AVON LAKE — Victor Hitterman scored agame-high 12 points to lead to Olmsted Falls to awin over Avon Lake in Southwestern Conferenceaction.

Matt Molina led Avon Lake (4-17, 0-12) with 11points.

OLMSTED FALLS (53): Hanna 4-0-10, Hurrell 3-2-9, Candow 1-0-2,Hitterman 3-3-12, Sosic 3-4-10, Fritz 0-10-10. Totals 15-19-53.

AVON LAKE (43): AJ Outcalt 2-0-6, James O’Connor 1-0-2, LukeHarris 4-0-9, Logan Good 2-1-5, Jordan Ball 1-0-2, Matt Molina 4-2-11, Matt Pappas 3-0-8. Totals 17-3-43.

Olmsted Falls 12 12 15 14 — 53

Avon Lake 8 9 9 17 — 43Three-point goals: (AL) Outcalt 2, Harris, Molina, Pappas, (OF)

Hannah 2, Hurrell, Hitterman.Junior varsity: Olmsted Falls, 48-44.

Brecksville 66, Westlake 40

WESTLAKE — Andris Balodis led the Demons with22 points, including six 3-pointers, in a loss to theBees in SWC play.

BRECKSVILLE (66): Auble 5-1-13, Bazil 2-0-4, Bruno 1-0-3, Cipolla 3-0-8, Dimitrijevs 4-0-9, Harwood 7-0-15, Jakovljevic 1-0-2, Maddox3-0-7, Shirilla 1-0-2, Stevens 1-0-3. Totals 28-1-66.

WESTLAKE (40): Andris Balodis 8-0-22, Cameron Brown 1-0-2, MarkSchuler 4-0-9, Rico Tate 3-0-7. Totals 16-0-40.

Brecksville 13 17 19 17 — 66

Westlake 3 10 17 10 — 40Three-point goals: (B) Auble 2, Cipolla 2, Bruno, Dimitrijevs,

Harwood, Maddox, Stevens, (W) Balodis 6, Schuler, Tate.

Coming out of the lockerroom tied at 16, Lutheran Westwent on a 12-3 run that ulti-mately gave it a lead it wouldnot relinquish. Clay Carper hitback-to-back jumpers — thesecond inches away frombeing a three-point shot. AdamFelten nailed a three and twopossessions later AndrewO’Hara scored his first fieldgoal since scoring the first 10points for Lutheran West — allin the opening quarter.

O’Hara was spectacular, witha game-high 19 points andleading the Longhorns inrebounds with eight.

“I was just taking open shotsin the first quarter, then thesecond quarter hit and theyweren’t falling so I kind of shiedaway a little bit,” O’Hara said.“We just took the best shotpossible.”

Columbia, however, didn’tgo down without a fight,switching up to a press thatfrustrated the Longhorns intofive of their 12 turnovers in the

fourth quarter — the most theyhad for any one quarter.

Still, whenever Columbia gotclose Lutheran West had ananswer. The Raiders cut thelead down to six twice only tosee Lutheran West push it rightback to eight on the next pos-session. Columbia’s Justin Tac-chite converted a three-pointplay to bring Columbia withinfive, only to see the Longhornspush it back to seven.

“We knew they were holdingthe ball a lot to make us chasethem around, so at that pointwe had to try and get some-thing going,” Columbia coachLarry Babics said. “We did adecent job, we’re really not apressing team. But we put our-selves in a bad spot in thatthird quarter.”

The back-and-fourth battlecontinued for two more seriesuntil Columbia forced aturnover and Brian Hersheydrained a three that cutLutheran West’s lead to 41-38with 3:12 left. But Feltenanswered with a layup and theLonghorns defense clampeddown to seal the victory, nurs-ing a five-point lead with five

seconds to play when TaylorBeck connected on a meaning-less 3-pointer as the buzzersounded.

“When you’re playingColumbia, the concern alwaysis that they’re going to comeback and hit threes and get thatmomentum going,” LutheranWest coach Alan Januzzi said.“We focused on chasing themoff the line and really it camedown to defense. When you getto this time of the year, that’sreally what it comes down to.”

Contact Chris Sweeney at 329-7135or ctsports@chroniclet.com.

Lutheran West 44,Columbia 42LUTHERAN WEST (44): Andrew O’Hara 8-1-

19, Nick Knudsen 1-0-2, Clay Carper 3-0-6,Adam Felten 2-2-7, Sean Voiers 3-0-6,Dominic Januzzi 1-2-4, Scottie Berghaus 0-0-0, Josh Ranc 0-0-0. Totals 18-5-44.

COLUMBIA (42): David Delahunty 2-5-10,Kevin Simon 3-4-10, Brandon Heidecker 2-1-5, Brian Hershey 3-1-9, Justin Tacchite 1-1-3, Jordan DeLisle 0-0-0, Taylor Beck 1-2-5, John Fechet 0-0-0. Totals 12-14-42.

Lutheran West 12 4 14 14 — 44

Columbia 14 2 7 19 — 42Three-point goals: Lutheran West 3-13

(O’Hara 2, Felten), Columbia 4-20 (Hershey2, Delahunty, Beck). Field goals: LutheranWest 18-41 (44 percent), Columbia 12-42(29 percent). Free throws: Lutheran West5-11 (46 percent), Columbia 14-24 (58 per-cent). Rebounds: Lutheran West 23(O’Hara 8), Columbia 29 (Delahunty 8,Heidecker 8). Total fouls: Lutheran West19, Columbia 16. Technical fouls: Simon.Fouled out: Heidecker. Turnovers:Lutheran West 12, Columbia 8.

Junior varsity: Lutheran West, 56-34.

CLINCHFrom D1

EC (14-7, 9-5 WSC) neededhelp even to be in a positionwhere help helped them: WhenLakewood was forced to forfeitlast Friday’s win over the Pan-thers, EC moved into a tie withBay, meaning if Bay lost, an ECwin could have given it the out-right championship.

But early on against thePirates on Friday, it was clear awin was going to be a difficultproposition. The Panthers hadseven turnovers in the first fourminutes of the game — and 22total — and trailed 18-8 afterone thanks to three 3-pointersby River’s Patrick Connors. Tir-baso scored six early in the sec-ond before going to the benchwith his second foul, and ECmanaged to cut it to five at half,29-24.

But after Tirbaso cut the leadto three with a bucket to openthe second half, the Piratesrolled off 13 straight — includ-ing eight straight at one point

by Evan Nugent — to blow itopen. After River scored thefirst four of the fourth — withtwo of EC’s eight missed freethrows mixed in — the Pirateshad their biggest lead, 48-31,with 6:30 left.

Yet the Panthers made a run,scoring 10 in a row: JacobKuchta made two free throwsand back-to-back threes, andCeeven Shelton added a bucketto make it 48-41. Nugent madea pair of free throws, and after acharge on Shelton that the ECbench loathed, Connorsincreased it back to 11, 52-41.Shelton, though, converted athree-point play and ColdenSchemmel cut it to six.

EC got no closer. River scorednine of the next 10 to ice it.

“The conference was verytough — a three-way tie or afour-way tie is a very fitting forthis conference,” EC coach PhilKuchta said. “There was a lot ofgood teams. We beat Bay twice,Midview beat us twice — it’s acredit to every team in theleague.”

Indeed: River, which finished

4-10 in the league (and is 9-11overall), lost five conferencegames by three points or fewer.

“The depth of the league, topto bottom, is incredible,” Rivercoach Mike Murray said.“We’ve played close games,and lost close ones, but latelywe’ve been playing better andplaying confidence. I think weshowed that tonight.”

Contact Joel Hammond at 329-7135or ctsports@chroniclet.com.

Rocky River 62,Elyria Catholic 49ELYRIA CATHOLIC (49): DJ Graham 2-0-4,

Kevin Kelley 1-0-3, Ceeven Shelton 4-4-12,Darin Guice 2-0-4, Colden Schemmel 1-0-2, Cole Virgin 1-0-2, Jacob Kuchta 3-2-10,James Tirbaso 5-0-10, Brian Duffield 1-0-2.Totals 20-6-49

ROCKY RIVER (62): Sutton Klodnick 1-0-2,Eric Jones 1-0-2, Patrick Connors 6-5-20,Jack Corrigan 2-1-6, Gary Matthews 1-0-3,Evan Nugent 5-2-12, Jimmy Kinsley 5-4-14,Nathan Seffernick 1-1-3. Totals 22-13-62.

Elyria Catholic 8 16 7 18 — 49

Rocky River 18 11 15 18 — 62Three-point goals: Elyria Catholic 3-13

(Kelley, Kuchta 2), Rocky River 5-10(Connors 3, Corrigan, Matthews). Fieldgoals: Elyria Catholic 20-48 (42 percent),Rocky River 22-46 (48 percent). Freethrows: Elyria Catholic 6-14 (43 percent),Rocky River 13-18 (72 percent). Rebounds:Elyria Catholic 28 (Virgin 7), Rocky River 29(Jones 7). Total fouls: Elyria Catholic 23,Rocky River 13. Turnovers: Elyria Catholic22, Rocky River 17. Fouled out: None.

Junior varsity: Elyria Catholic, 44-39.

ECFrom D1

STEVE MANHEIM / CHRONICLE

ElyriaCatholic’s

James Tirbasocollides with

Rocky River’sJimmy Kinsley

during thePanthers’ loss

Friday night.