Rocky River, OH- The top two teams on the Metro side of Chagrin Valley Conference faced off Friday, as the Lutheran West Longhorns (16-1) hosted the undefeated Cuyahoga Heights Red Wolves (17-0). The Longhorns entered the matchup this week as the #5 team in the latest Plain Dealer high school top 25. The Wolves were unranked despite an impressive record.
The Longhorns used their size advantage to bully the Red Wolves in the first quarter. They jumped out to an early 5-1 lead, before Cuyahoga Heights went on a 6-0 run of their own taking an early 7-5 lead. Sophomore forward Matthew Meyer started with game with 4 of his 14 points in the paint before the guard duo of junior's Derek Fairley and Jayson Levis each hit a triple giving the team a 14-9 lead at the end of the quarter.
The Wolves fired back in the second. Both teams combined for 6 triples in the first three minutes of the quarter. Cuyahoga Heights begin attacking the paint causing multiple Longhorn players to be in a early game foul trouble. Meyer finished the quarter with back-to-back layups to consecutive possessions to end the half, giving the Horns a slim
28-26 lead.
In the second half, the Wolves received a spark of offense from senior guards Cade Davies and Kaelib Graff. Both players combined for 8 three pointers. Davies finished the game with a team high of 18. Graff finished with 14 points.
Coming into the game, Lutheran West head coach. Jordan Duke knew the Wolves 1-3-1 zone defense would be difficult to break. Late in the second half Coach Duke pulled a move that had just about everyone in attendance including the referee's.
"At the time, I didn't have a plan, but they were sitting in the zone and I wanted to see how long would it be before they would come out."
Fairley held the ball for about 90 seconds without moving while receiving boos from the Wolves crowd before play resume with about 4:25 on the clock.
The Horns withstood the last punches the Wolves provided before sophomore forward Joshua Meyer (twin brother of Matthew) put the game away with back-to-back layups of his own.
Levis finished with a team high 18 points for the Horns. Fairley finished with 11.
After handing the Red Wolves their first loss of the season, the Horns are in full control of the CVC-Metro. They have game two of their back-to-back at home again tomorrow against Kirkland before their huge matchup against the Lutheran East next Wednesday in Cleveland Heights.
The Red Wolves will get their chance at redemption on February 18th as they host the Horns. Next up for the Red Wolves is another road game versus Brooklyn next Friday.
Interviews with coach Jordan Duke, Jayson Levin & Matthew Meyer.
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