Strongsville Falls to Shaw in Tourney Finals

The varsity Mustangs fell just short of a championship in the Strongsville Holiday Tournament after a tough-fought final game at Strongsville High School.

The tournament, held Dec. 28 and 29, was a showdown between the Bedford Bearcats, Lutheran East Falcons, the Shaw Cardinals and the Mustangs for both varsity and junior varsity teams. Each team played one game on Tuesday, then met on Wednesday for the championship and consolation games.

The championship game of tournament play belonged to the Mustangs and the Shaw Cardinals who had earned this right by winning Tuesday's match-ups. This game was a battle. The Cardinals jumped out early to an 11-2 advantage, but the Mustangs fought back quickly and had a 2-point lead after one quarter, 24-22. The Mustangs stretched the lead to 8 points, but a late surge by the Cardinals had the game dead even at 49-49 at halftime. Aaron White led all scorers at the half with 21 points, although he had to get a few of them one at a time (7 of 11 from the free throw line).

 The Mustangs opened up a 12-point lead in the third quarter only to see it shaved down to 4 points by the end of the quarter, 76-72. The final quarter contained many lead changes, and with 41 seconds left in the game the score was tied 96-96. The final seconds saw Shaw with a few steals and Strongsville with a few missed free throws. The final score: Shaw Cardinals 100, Strongsville Mustangs 97. Aaron White ended the game with 40 points; Gurjeet Gill 19; and Mike Rosado hit double digits with 11 for the Mustangs. Cordell Smith was the high Cardinal with 24 points.

The Mustangs (2-2) got to the finals after a win Tuesday over the Bedford Bearcats (1-4). The first half turned into "The Aaron White Show" as the 6-foot-8 senior rebounded, drove and jammed the Mustangs to an early 19-5 lead. His 28 first-half points along with great defensive play from teammates Gurjeet Gill and Mike Rosado gave the Mustangs a 58-45 halftime advantage.

While Whitey's scoring slowed down slightly in the second half, Gill's did not. It took all the Mustangs had to hold off early second-half runs by the Bearcats, who kept in striking distance until the Mustangs put the game away halfway through the fourth quarter.  When the final horn sounded in this varsity shootout, the Mustangs prevailed 96-76 over Bedford. White led all scorers with 36, while Gurjeet Gill added an impressive 32 points of his own. Jared Simpson leaded the way for the Bearcats with 21 points.

The first varsity game on Tuesday matched the Shaw Cardinals (3-1) with the Lutheran East Falcons (2-3). The Falcons played under control and held an 8-point lead at the half. The second half saw Shaw pick up the tempo, both offensively and defensively. It took the Cardinals just six minutes to tie the game at 44, and it was all Shaw from then on. Shaw's Cordell Smith scored 33 points to lead the Cardinals to a 79-62 victory.

On Wednesday, the varsity consolation game pitted Bedford against Lutheran East. This game was played with nice balance from both teams. The Bearcats hit a few 3-point shots along the way and led at halftime 32-25. Bedford started the second half with an 11-2 run and led after three quarters 53-41. Bedford kept a 10-12 point lead throughout the fourth quarter. The Falcons of Lutheran East put on a little scoring spurt at the end of the game, but it was too little too late. The Bedford Bearcat won the contest 63-57 behind 14 points from Jared Simpson.

In junior varsity competition, the Strongsville Mustangs (3-1) were paired up with the Bedford Bearcats (6-0). The undefeated Bearcats showed why they hadn't lost yet this season as they opened up an early lead and controlled the boards, leading 31-21 at halftime. The second half saw a more physical Mustang squad, and although they cut the Bedford lead to 5 points in the final minute, it wasn't enough. The JV Mustangs went down to defeat 52-46. Bedford's J.J. Woodson led all scorers with 22 points.

 The second JV game on Tuesday saw Lutheran East (1-4) take on an explosive Shaw team (1-2). This uptempoed game favored the Shaw Cardinals, who took an early lead and never look back. Shaw led at halftime by 16 points, and cruised on to a 60–27 victory, despite the fact that they shot only 23 percent from the free throw line. The Cardinal's Thomas Austin took scoring honors with 11 points.

The action Wednesday started with the JV consolation game between Strongsville and Lutheran East . The Mustangs took control from the opening tip and built a 10-point lead, 13–3, with two minutes left in the quarter. The Mustangs continued to take advantage of the 3-2 zone of the Falcons as they hit a few 3-point shots during the first half. The score at the half was 34-25 in favor of Mustangs.

 The Falcons and Mustangs played even in the second half with the Mustangs keeping an 8-10 point advantage until the middle of the fourth quarter. Although they were getting out-rebounded, the Mustangs pulled away and won by a final score or 65-49. That improved the JV Mustangs' record to 4-2.  

According to JV Head Coach Ian Steffen, "They're a work in progress.  We are moving forward, getting better every day." Steffen and the Mustang JVs are looking forward to the upcoming conference games against rivals Medina and Brunswick.

The championship JV game found Bedford facing Shaw. The game resembled a track meet with hoops at each end. There was a lot of running, with very few baskets being scored. After Bedford took a 13-8 lead at the end of the first quarter, it took 3:39 into the second quarter for either team to score again. Shaw did come back to tie the game 20-20 before Bedford took back the lead. The Shaw Cardinals put a run on in the final two minutes of the game and scored a basket with 17 seconds left, which tied the game at 39 apiece. That's when regulation time ended. In overtime, it was all Cardinals as they outscored Bedford 11-1 and won the JV championship 50-40.