CVCA escapes past Woodridge, 52-45

PENINSULA, Ohio—A fourth-quarter comeback was stopped short Tuesday night as CVCA held its own down the stretch, with a plethora of players coming together to help secure a 52-45 win against the Bulldogs. 

One of those players was Royal junior guard LaVelle Sharpe, who finished with a game-high 19 points during the win. He was aggressive from the start and even helped put the game away for his team late in the fourth quarter with an and-one layup, pushing the Royal lead to eight points with just 41 seconds left.

“This is something that he’s capable of,” CVCA head coach Matt Futch said about the junior point guard. “Offensively, this is what he’s capable of. Defensively, it’s something that we’ve been challenging him on and he did a really good job of that tonight as well.

“The coaches always told me to be aggressive and that’s what I tried doing today,” Sharpe said about his performance during the win.

Turnovers headlined a shaky first half for the Bulldogs, as they just couldn’t find a consistent rhythm early on. Trailing 16-10 after the first quarter, they weren’t able to cut the deficit any closer as they were faced with a double-digit margin for most of the second quarter.

The Royals were able to capitalize on the myriad of Bulldog mistakes, including holding the Royals to just six points in the second quarter and even closing out the final eight minutes on a 14-6 run, pushing their lead to a comfortable 14 points at the break.

However, Woodridge senior point guard Owen Snyder kept the game within striking distance late in the game. He scored all 11 of his points in the second half, with 10 of them coming in the fourth quarter alone.

The Bulldogs started the fourth quarter on a 10-2 run over five minutes, putting them within three points.

But that’s as close as they’d get to a comeback as Sharpe and Niles Nuru were there to come away with points in the paint and at the free-throw line to stop the comeback attempt.

Despite the late scare, coach Futch was pleased with the way his team continued to stay poised and never panic in late-game situations despite missing their star sophomore Darryn Peterson.

“It was a total team effort,” Futch said. “This was a tough game coming into especially with us not full strength. One thing I was proud of our guys was they bought into the defensive side of the basketball and they played together…..When they went on that run, our guys stayed poised,” he continued. ”

Five different players scored at least five points for the Royals during the win, with Sharpe, Nuru and Jackson Shelby leading the way with 19, 8, and 8 points, respectively.

For the Bulldogs, Snyder paced the offense with a team-high 11 points along with 10 points from Gerelle King despite battling foul trouble throughout the night.

As for the Royals, it was an encouraging sign for coach Futch’s team to come together despite battling through sicknesses. The win Tuesday night helps regain the confidence of their team, trying to continue to ascend to new heights from last season.

“Our schedule is tough this year,” Sharpe said after the win Tuesday. “We just need everybody to buy in, play together and that’s what we did today in the fourth quarter.”