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CLEVELAND, Ohio– Turning up the pressure on defense and capitalizing in the transition game was all it took for Cleveland Heights to take control over Villa Angela-St. Joseph Tuesday night.
In fact, the Tigers outscored the Vikings 25-7 in the second quarter, ultimately putting the game out of reach for coach Ashen Ward and his team, ending the night suffering an 81-43 loss.
“[Transition points] was a point of emphasis for us after our last couple of games we got in the habit of walking the ball up and getting into our offense slow,” Tiger coach J.R. Bremer said. “That’s not really what Heights basketball is about.”
The Vikings opened up the first quarter with a handful of turnovers but found themselves within reach all throughout the first eight minutes of action. Cleveland Heights held a 19-12 lead after the first, with EJ Farmer and Davon Smith-Johnson trading dunks.
Davon Smith-Johnson has three dunks already for the Tigers, leading the way with six early points. Heights leads 9-5 with 5:38 left in the 1st. pic.twitter.com/StcgGQQWyI
— Michael Trivisonno (@MichaelTriv_) January 6, 2021
That’s when the Tigers opened the game up.
Mike Coyne connected on back-to-back 3-pointers midway through the second quarter, giving the Tigers a 35-17 lead. Bryon Ottrix and Farmer would help lead the team on a 9-2 run to close out the final three minutes of the quarter and the Cleveland Heights lead was sitting at 25 points, 44-19 at halftime with six different players scoring in the second quarter alone.
The adversity Bremer’s team has faced early on in the season has been felt. After starting the season 1-4 heading into Tuesday night, he believes the way his players responded helped bring home another win.
“We have faced a lot of adversity this season,” he said. “Everybody has stuck together and we try to teach brotherhood; everyone is in this together, through the ups and the downs.”
The lead never got below 20 points the rest of the night for the Tigers and in the end, Bremer’s team came away with a dominant showing.
It was a night where 12 different players scored. Davon Smith-Johnson led the way for Cleveland Heights, finishing with a game-high 17 points, three rebounds and four blocks. Farmer added 14 points along with Ottrix and Coyne each pouring in a handful of 3-pointers for 11 points each.
“We have a lot of talent at every position and we have five guys who are threats and that is rare for a high school team,” Bremer said.
For the Vikings, eight different players scored during the loss. Devin Mills and Anthony Ivey led the way each with 11 points. Ashen Ward’s team is off to an 0-2 start to the season, but he believes his young group can continue to build off of the learning curve his team is going through early on.
“This is one game, early in the season and it doesn’t define us,” Ward said. “As long as we’re learning from things that are happening on the court and growing together as a team, then we’ll be ok.”
As for Bremer and the Tigers, the win improves the team’s record to 2-4, snapping a three-game losing streak. It was a needed win for a team Bremer feels like is starting to play more together, sharing the ball and getting a myriad of guys involved.
“We all hate to lose and it’s good to have that winning taste in your mouth,” Bremer said. “The biggest thing for me is the guys are having fun and when we move the ball like that and get easy layups, that’s what having fun is. This is going to kickstart us to try and finish the week strong.”
great reporting as always!