Box Score
Lourdes University saw the 2013-2014 men's basketball season come to a close on Wednesday evening as the Gray Wolves fell to the University of Northwestern Ohio 83-69 at Racer Gymnasium in Lima, Ohio in the quarterfinals of the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference tournament.
 
"This is a tough loss for us," head coach Andre Smith stated afterwards.  "You hate for the seniors to go out this way.  Give UNOH all the credit.  They are a heck of a team and the score was way too high for us.  We committed way too many turnovers and they took advantage in transition."
 
Elvin Butler (Akron, Ohio/East H.S.) scored a game-high 24 points off of the bench, making 8-of-12 from the floor including 4-of-5 from long range, while Eric Worthey (Cleveland, Ohio/Cuyahoga Valley Christian H.S.) added 18 points on 6-of-7 shooting for the Gray Wolves.  Lourdes shot 59.1% from the field on the night, but committed 14 turnovers which led to 20 Racer points.
 
Lourdes, the tournament's sixth seed, scored the first basket of the game on a basket by Nick Robertson (Macedonia, Ohio/Nordonia H.S.), but would not lead again the rest of the way.  Five Gray Wolf turnovers in the first nine minutes allowed the Racers to build a 15-10 lead.  Eight straight Lourdes points by Butler, including a pair of three-pointers, pulled the Gray Wolves to within one, 19-18.
 
Northwestern Ohio, the third seed, pushed the lead back to six, 29-23, its largest in the opening 20 minutes, at the 4:04 mark, before the Gray Wolves again battled back to within one with just over a minute to play before intermission.  The Racers scored the final four points of the opening stanza though to take a 37-32 lead into the locker room.
 
The Gray Wolves shot 66.7% (14-of-21) in the first half, as Butler was a perfect 4-for-4, including three three-pointers, but Lourdes committed nine first half miscues.  Northwestern Ohio had seven offensive rebounds in the opening half.
 
A three-pointer to open the second half pushed the Northwestern Ohio lead to eight before Lourdes made one final run.  A three-point by Worthey cut the deficit to one, 44-43, with 14:20 remaining, but the Racers answered with back-to-back three-pointers to rebuild the lead.  It was still just a six-point game, 63-57, with 6:51 left before Northwestern Ohio went on a 16-4 run over the next five minutes to put the game out of reach.
 
Zach Steinmetz (Toledo, Ohio/Saint John's H.S.) scored 11 points for the Gray Wolves to give Lourdes three pointers in double figures.  He also grabbed a team-high six rebounds, but the visitors were outrebounded 29-21 on the night, including 12-6 on the offensive end.  Jake DuPree (Toledo, Ohio/Whiteford H.S.) finished with eight points, five assists, and four steals for the Gray Wolves.
 
Johnny Elliott led Northwestern Ohio with 18 points while Ed Jenkins added 16 more.  Derrick Tate tallied 14 points, nine rebounds, and five assists.  The Racers shot 54.5% from the floor, including 63% in the second half, and went 16-of-19 (84.2%) from the free throw line.
 
"They have such a great inside-outside presence which caused lots of problems for us," Smith added.  "They killed us on the offensive glass with second and third chances.  We just didn't have it.  The whole season was up and down."
 
Northwestern Ohio (22-7) advances to play second-seeded Davenport on Saturday afternoon in the semifinals while Lourdes sees its season come to a close with a 16-15 record.  With the loss, the careers of Butler, Ron Dukes (Saint Louis, Mo./North County H.S.), Enique Mason (Indianapolis, Ind./Fishburne Military H.S.), Jerome Talton (East Cleveland, Ohio/Shaw H.S.), and Worthey come to a close.  Butler and Talton were the first two four-year players in program history.