MANTUA, OH- Crestwood High School was the scene of a big CVC matchup with conference title implications on Friday night when the Red Devils hosted the Kirtland Hornets. Kirtland was looking to avenge a home loss to Crestwood back in December. They were coming off of a tough loss to Cornerstone Christian while Crestwood was looking to bounce back from their first loss of the season on Tuesday to West Branch. In a closely contested battle, the Hornets were able to pull out the 55-54 win.
Lucas Renfro would get the Hornets going as he scored the first to baskets of the game for a quick 4-0 lead. Crestwood would come back with six straight capped off by a Dekota Johnson jumper. Renfro would score four more straight including a nice scoop shot inside putting Kirtland up 8-6.
After a Brody Durham shot tied it up again, Danny Alfieri hit a three to put the Hornets back up 11-8.
They would hold a 15-12 lead over the Red Devils after one. It was a big quarter for Renfro who scored 10 of Kirtland's 15 points.
The Hornets started strong in quarter two as Vince Carriero scored back to back buckets to give Kirtland a 19-12 lead. Crestwood would answer back with a Johnson three and James Durham score inside. After a Will Burt score by the Hornets put them up by three, Brody Durham knocked down a three and Bryce Giel scored on a floater inside to give the Devils a 24-22 lead.
The teams played just about even up the rest of the quarter as Crestwood took a 30-27 lead into halftime. Dekota Johnson led the Devils with 9 points while Lucas Renfro had 11 points for Kirtland.
Lucas Renfro would open up the 2nd half for the Hornets with a three to tie the game at 30. James Durham would then score five straight for Crestwood before Steve Lincoln hit a big three putting the Red Devils up 38-30 and prompting a Kirtland timeout.
A Brody Durham basket would create the first double digit lead of the night as Crestwood went up 40-30. Kirtland would fire back outscoring Crestwood 9-2 to close the 3rd quarter and cut the Red Devils lead to 42-39 after three.
Crestwood would open the scoring in the final frame on a pair of Augie Schweickert free throws to take a 44-39 lead. The Hornets would get a basket from Aiden Hurd followed by a big Renfro and-one conversion to tie the game at 44. The two teams went back and forth for the next few possessions. With the score tied at 48, Steve Lincoln hit a big corner three to put Crestwood back on top 51-48.
Vince Carriero would answer for Kirtland with an and-one conversion and a pair of jumpers for seven straight points and a 55-51 lead.
After a James Durham free throw split and Brody Durham score, Kirtland missed a pair of free throws giving the ball back to Crestwood with 18 seconds to play. Kirtland would then put up some stingy defense keeping the Red Devils outside the three point line where a Schweickert desperation three came up short and the Hornets escaped with a 55-54 win.
The Hornets used some lock down defense and aggressiveness on the offensive glass to help bring home the big win.
Lucas Renfro had a game high 21 points for the Hornets while Vince Carriero chipped in with 20. Will Burt also grabbed 10 rebounds for Kirtland. James Durham led the Red Devils with 19 points.
Kirtland will look to keep things rolling when they head to Perry on Saturday while Crestwood looks to snap their two game slide on Monday when they host West Geauga.
Postgame interviews with Lucas Renfro, Vince Carriero and coach Shawn MacGregor.
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