Shoremen Freshmen Are SWC Conference, Tournament Champs

The boys basketball team came into the 2011-12 season looking to improve dramatically from a frustrating and disappointing one-win season the previous year. Head Coach Kyle Johnson devised a game plan consisting of hard work, repetition and a concentration on teamwork, resulting in their being named SWC Conference and SWC Tournament champs Feb. 25 in Westlake.

The Shoremen opened up the tournament against a revenge-minded Westlake team looking to upset the Shoremen after losing two previous conference games. However, the Shoremen turned up the defense allowing just three points in the second half easily winning their first tournament game 41-19. The semi-finals were not quite as easy as the Brecksville Bees proved to be a stingy opponent.

Both teams started slowly, with neither not scoring a point for the first five minutes of the game. The Shoremen finally broke open the defensive battle with less than a minute to play in the fourth quarter winning 27-20 advancing them to the SWC Finals against the Bulldogs of Olmsted Falls.

The Shoremen took the court against Olmsted Falls following a Berea win in the consolation game against Brecksville. The team was greeted by a packed gym and a raucous Shoremen student section who rightly earned the “six-man award.”

Avon Lake and Olmsted Falls split their regular season games both winning at home making the final an appropriate rubber match. Unlike the semi-finals, the championship game was offensive minded with both teams working the ball, matching each other’s points.

As the first half buzzer sounded the score was 29-27 with the Shoremen clinging to a narrow two-point margin. The second half saw the team defense pick up and the Shoremen built an 11-point cushion only to see it vanish with two Olmsted Falls three-pointers and a lay-up on a steal.

With 1:25 seconds to play the score was still a two-point game 50-48. Despite a very loud gym and intense pressure by the Bulldog faithful, the Shoremen calmly broke the press, sank free throws and forced tough shots down the stretch.

As the final buzzer of the 2011-12 season rang, the scoreboard read 55-48 and the Freshmen Shoremen found themselves Champions of the Southwest Conference and SWC Freshmen Tournament!  The team’s overall record for the 2011-12 season was an impressive 15-5, making the season one of the most incredible year-over-year turn-arounds in Avon Lake sports.

The season’s end was a marked change from last year. The upstart Shoremen learned quickly from their coach and jumped on the Southwest Conference season rattling off seven consecutive wins against conference foes. The distracting holidays came with back-to-back three-point losses to Avon and North Olmsted, but the Shoremen buckled down and ran off an impressive five-game winning streak before losing a “barn-burner” away at Olmsted Falls and North Olmsted at home.

After the dust cleared and the grueling SWC season ended the Shoremen found themselves at the top of the heap, SWC Conference Champs, with a formidable league record of 12-4 and a number #1 seed in the SWC Freshman Tournament hosted by Westlake. 

Avon Lake Freshman Shoremen are: 

Dan Furrer, Head Coach Kyle Johnson, son Deloy Johnson, Nick Horton, Brad Ziegler, Kyle Robinson, Roman Wearsch, Danny Disbrow, Matt Molina, Brandon Doyle, Quinn Cantleberry, Matt Duskey. A.J. Outcalt, Kevin Knip, Luke Harris and Anthony Thielman, statistician