Garfield Heights, OH- Revenge is best served on a Saturday afternoon in February. Well, that was the thoughts of many players in the Garfield Heights (19-3) locker room this week after cutting down the nets for their 22/23 LEL Title earlier this week.
"We wanted this game bad as ever" said freshman Marcus Johnson in a post game interview when asked if he was satisfied with the game results. " They got lucky last game and we beat them by 30 today."
The Maple Heights Mustangs (16-4) last loss came on December 16th to Lorain and have been a freight train for teams ever since. A team built around toughness and grit just didn't have it on today. They kept the first quarter close. Keeping within 4 points until 1:27 on the clock when Johnson and senior wing Jyles Brandon scored back to back layups. Senior wing CJ Little ended the first quarter on a driving layup to give the Dawgs a 6 point lead.
Garfield stepped up their intensity on defense in the second quarter, forcing as many as 10 turnovers and went on a 22-4 run in the quarter pushing their lead to 24 to end the half. Maple went over five and half minutes without a single bucket which didn't surprise head coach Sonny Johnson post game.
"Did you see our defense? They had runs of 4, 6, 7 and 6 in the game" said Johnson postgame "This is how we play when we locked in and the players care about each other."
The Dawgs led 34-10 at the half.
Maple Heights scoreless run of over 10 minutes carried over til the third. The Bulldogs forced 4 air balls in the quarter due to their stout defense. The Mustangs first basket of the second half came with 2:55 on the clock from guard Darion Hill.
Coach Anthony Burns soon after pulled his starters for his reserves, ultimately waving the white flag on the game.
"Sometimes you and your team have to be humbled. Going 15 games straight was a great feeling but a loss like this need to humble us," said Burns postgame.
Marcus Johnson led the Bulldogs will 15 points nearly outscoring the Mustangs by his lonesome. CJ Little, Germainn Marshall and Tommie Benn each added 8 points.
Darion Hill led the Mustangs with 7 points.
Both teams will be in district playoff action this week as Garfield Heights await the winner of North Royalton and Olmstead Falls. Maple Heights will host Akron Firestone on Wednesday.
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