The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Young Vikings fall to bigger, older Tigers Cleveland Heights’ Smith dominates in nonconference victory over VASJ
When Villa Angela-St. Joseph’s coaching staff scouted Cleveland Heights last weekend, coach Babe Kwasniak knew the Vikings would have no defender capable of guarding 260-pound forward Tyreke Smith on the interior. Kwasniak was right. Smith dominated the Vikings around the basket on Dec. 7, scored 26 points, and electric guard Yahel Hill poured in 30 as the Tigers beat visiting VASJ, 94-81.
But Kwasniak wasn’t disappointed. Against a team decidedly more experienced, faster and stronger, the Vikings’ effort kept them within four points in the fourth quarter.
“It’s hard for them to understand but these are 22 games that don’t matter,” Kwasniak said. “It just matters that we got better, and I think we got better.”
Jerry Higgins led VASJ with 22 points after he was plagued by foul trouble in the first half. Freshman Jaden Hameed added 17 points, classmate Enavell Lighty finished with 12 and Jason Priah chipped in 11 off the bench.
“Our problem wasn’t offense,” Kwasniak said. “We were scoring the basketball. Our problem was our ability to stop them on the interior and a lot of times, it was men against boys.”
VASJ led, 15-14, midway through the first quarter after Higgins made a pair of free throws. The Tigers responded with a 11-0 spurt and led by nine at the end of the first quarter.
The Vikings shaved three points off the Cleveland Heights lead in the middle quarters. A Hameed layup brought VASJ within four points early in the fourth quarter before Hill and Smith took over.
Cleveland Heights’ powerful senior tandem helped the Tigers outscore the Vikings, 26-17, in the game’s final minutes.
Javon Roberts added 14 points for the Tigers, but it was Hill and Smith who made coach Will Brand’s job easy down the stretch.
“I told someone else when I got this job it was like my first car,” Brand said. “But my first car was a Porsche, I’m just like ‘Man, this is mine? Cool, let’s roll.’ ”
Hameed’s play was impressive for the Vikings. After he scored nine points in the opener against Euclid, Hameed was forced to assume more responsibility with Higgins in foul trouble.
Hameed made three 3-pointers and also scored on a handful of hard-nosed drives into the middle of Cleveland Heights’ defense. But as the freshman thrived scoring, a lesson in consistent defensive effort was attached to his 17-point game.
“He’s spectacular offensively,” Kwasniak said. “He had some lapses defensively. He’s got a great role model because the kid who’s a senior has never taken a play off in his life and Jaden’s got to get better at not taking plays off defensively. But he will, he’s a freshman.”