Cleveland Heights, Ohio - The Cleveland Heights Tigers (5-5) hosted a GCC matchup between them and the Mentor Cardinals (6-1). The Tigers came into the matchup winning four of their last six games. Heights’ dominant paint presence led them to the victory.
Head Coach for the Tigers, JR Bremer, spoke briefly about the win.
“We knew what we were getting into...we just had to prepare to handle that pressure. We knew when we got out of that pressure that we would get some open looks. We had some open looks, we didn’t knock them down today, but we got to the basket,” said Bremer.
Mentor came and tried to implement their fast tempo with their press. They forced five turnovers in the first. Around the five minute mark they led 7-6. Heights matched the pace well, they broke the press for several transition layups. The quarter ended with Heights leading 19-15.
The Tigers started to up the pressure with their own press and forced turnovers. Jayquan Stubbs scored ten in the quarter. One of his buckets put them up 25-20 with about four minutes to go. Players like Jamell Stephens and Charles Butler continued to get baskets for Heights around the rim. They went into the half leading 43-29.
Mentor opened the second half with a 7-0 run. Tony Katava knocked down a three to cut the lead to 43-38, with five minutes remaining. Marcus Sierputowski got going for the Cardinals in the period. He knocked down a three, along with multiple drives to the rim for layups.
Heights took back control of the game later in the quarter. They started to get out and run while breaking Mentor’s press again. After Butler found Stephens for a layup on a fast break, Heights led 51-41 with three minutes to go in the quarter. Heights went into the fourth leading 57-49.
Both teams battled until the very end in the fourth. Katava hit a three to cut the lead to 65-61 with five minutes to go. A few minutes later he finished a contested layup. Mentor trailed 69-65 with 2:30 to go. Sierputowski followed that up with a steal and score in the backcourt to cut the lead to two points.
Heights started to shut the door on Mentor from that point on with a few buckets coming from Butler. Carter Armstrong sealed the game with several made free throws. Heights ended on top 78-70, improving them to 6-5 on the season.
Heights will be back in action versus Hawken Jan. 4 at 4 p.m.
Leading scorers:
Stubbs- 31 points
Butler- 13 points
Sierputowski- 20 points
Katava- 20 points
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