In a battle of struggling Suburban League foes, the home Cuyahoga Falls Black Tigers defeated the Nordonia Knights 62-50 in Friday night boys basketball action. Down throughout the game, the Knights pulled within 2 points with just under 3 minutes to play in the 4th quarter, but only managed 2 points the rest of the game.
Nordonia started out slow again at the offensive side of the court, scoring their first point with 3:59 left in the 1st quarter. Then the Sophomores started to drive! First Drew Petros drove into the lane and hit a nice runner. Then Tye Evans worked his way through traffic before hitting a short jumper to cut the lead to 9-5. The Knights didn’t score again in the period as the Black Tigers led 14-5 after the 1st quarter. Nordonia missed Dominic Davis’ offense again. The Senior has missed the last 4 games due to an injury.
Both teams traded baskets throughout the 2nd quarter with Nordonia never getting it under an 8 point deficit. Senior Jordan Adams led the Knights with 8 first half points, all coming in the 2nd quarter. Senior D’Vontay Friga was the leading scorer for Cuyahoga Falls in the 1st half with 13, to lead them to a 29-21 halftime lead.
Cuyahoga Falls’ Head Coach Kenny Johnson outsmarted himself by going to a zone defense for the first time when up by 10 points. The Knights kept chipping away at the lead, finally cutting it to 1 point with 1:48 left in the period. A 3-pointer by Black Tiger’s Senior guard Jeff Shaffer with 2 seconds left in the quarter made the score 44-40.
Down 2 early in the 4th quarter thanks to a sweet 3-pointer from Freshman Julius Jones, the Knights had the ball but couldn’t take advantage of the opportunity. Nordonia was doomed by several missed shots in the paint in the middle of the final stanza. The Black Tigers (now 9-9) didn’t let the chance for a rare league victory pass through their fingers, by making 8 free throws in the 4th period. Cuyahoga Falls was led by Senior Kevin Gainer’s 20 points and Friga finished with 19. Nordonia (now 4-14) was led by Adams’ 13 points while Petros scored 8, including a couple of threes.
Playing just before the Varsity game, Nordonia’s JV started out slow then raced to a 34-31 victory over Cuyahoga Falls. Paced by Sophomore Spencer Harp’s 15 points, the Knights grabbed the lead early in the 2nd quarter and never gave it up. Freshman Evan Wiehe netted 7 points for the victors. Sophomore Dion Davis led the Black Tigers with 10 points, while Freshman Daizhan Brazile scored 8.
In the first game of the evening, the Nordonia Freshmen were down throughout the first half. The Knights were very active in the 3rd quarter, cutting into the Cuyahoga Falls lead. The game went back and forth in the 4th quarter with the home Black Tigers prevailing 41-39. The Knights were led by Steve Barnes’ season high 20 points. All 3 Nordonia boys basketball teams play next at University School on Tuesday February 9th.
