Boys basketball: Brookside, Keystone to meet with LCL title on the line

Since the Lorain County League was formed in 2019, there's been no bigger boys basketball rivalry than Brookside and Keystone. The schools, which have combined to win at least a share of the league title in six of the seven years of the league's existence, meet again tonight with hardware on the line. The Cardinals (15-3, 13-0 LCL) will take the court at Keystone with a share of their fourth consecutive LCL title already secured. The Wildcats (16-5, 12-1) will be looking to avenge a three-point overtime loss to Brookside earlier this season and snare a piece of the league title in a game that can be streamed on weol.com and The Chronicle-Telegram's YouTube Channel. The last time these teams met Keystone went into the fourth quarter with a four-point lead but lost 59-56 in overtime."It's one of the few games in my coaching career where I look back and I don't know how we lost," Keystone coach Jeff Holzhauer said. "I felt like our kids made plays but (Brookside coach Larry Babics') kids made more. They hit every shot they needed to hit that night and high school kids usually don't do that."The Cardinals have won seven of the last eight meetings between the teams dating back to the 2022-23 season, but Babics knows it's never easy to walk inside Keystone's gym and come out with a win. "I kinda like the idea of being on the road and our guys having that 'You against the world' feeling," Babics said. "It should be a great game."Although Brookside already clinched its share of the LCL title, it still had a lot to play for. The Cardinals come in with a 26-game conference winning streak and have the chance to be the first team ever to go a perfect 14-0 in the LCL. "If the roles were reversed, they wouldn't take it easy on us and we're certainly not going to take it easy on them," Babics said. The game will feature four of the area's top scorers. Keystone is the only Lorain County team with two players scoring over 20 points a game — Colt Cowling (24.1) and Liam Goran (20.1). Brookside is led by junior Mason Waechter (19.1) and Zeke Lind (17.1), who scored 28 points in the teams' first meeting. In the first meeting, Brookside had a slight rebounding edge. Cowling thinks turning that around could be the difference in tonight's matchup."The first Brookside game we didn't rebound well enough," Cowling said. "If we can get rebounds and make shots, we're hoping this time it will go our way."If a conference title isn't enough to play for, both teams also have to be thinking about postseason rankings as tonight's game is the final game that will factor into the Ohio High School Athletic Association's MaxPrep RPI Ranking that will determine the seeding for Sunday's Divisions III-VII tournament draws. "A win would definitely help our seeding with the point you'd get beating a team with a record like Keystone," Babics said.As of Feb. 11, Brookside was ranked No. 7 in Division IV among Northeast District teams right behind traditional powers Warrensville Heights, Cleveland Central Catholic and Glenville. The Tarblooders are idle Friday and the Ironman face a five-win Collinwood team, so the Cardinals could potentially move into the top five with a win.Keystone is currently ranked No. 4 in Division V, a spot that if it can hold would allow it to be the top seed in its bracket and position itself to potentially avoid Lutheran East until the regional final. "We're a tougher team now," Holzhauer said. "But hopefully we don't think we're as good as everyone says we are because I think that got us the first time. I think we'll be ready. It will be fun." Contact Todd Shapiro at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.