The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
VASJ defeats Heights in boys basketball
VASJ made a 3-pointer with 38 seconds remaining, and the Vikings hold on to beat visiting Cleveland Heights, 53-52. At right is VASJ’s Jordan Dean.
Villa Angela-St. Joseph’s home arena is a nightmare for the Vikings’ opponents.
To start, the tile playing surface throws visiting players off balance. Then there’s the matter of VASJ’s raucous student section, which hollered and heckled throughout the ebbs and flows of the Vikings’ 53-52 victory against Cleveland Heights Dec. 6.
Sophomore guard Jaden Hameed’s go-ahead 3-pointer from the corner set the stage for sophomore Jonah Waag to block the Tigers’ final shot attempt. After Latrace Jackson corralled the rebound — and just before the final buzzer sounded — VASJ’s faithful spilled out of the stands onto the court, surrounding its player in celebration.
“Our motto is ‘where friends become family,’” senior forward Khalil Mitcham said. “As you can see out there, we had a great family turnout. Not many schools can have the whole student section run on the court before the buzzer goes off. Their energy gives us energy and that’s what we run off of.”
Senior forward Graham Koppelman led the Vikings with 16 points and Mitcham scored 13. Koppelman hit four 3-pointers, each of which he celebrated with the student section.
“It can’t get much better than this,” Koppelman said. “I heard college isn’t as good as this, and I have to enjoy this now and I’m enjoying it.”
VASJ led by five points headed to the final period. Cleveland Heights coach Mike Cruz inserted Jae’Lyn Withers, a 6-foot-9 Louisville commit, into the game for his first minutes. Withers, dealing with an ankle injury sustained last week, sparked the Tigers. Cleveland Heights rallied to take its first lead since early in the first quarter and was up, 52-48, with under two minutes to play.
Hameed stole a pass from Withers and Mitcham put back his missed layup off the glass in transition to bring the Vikings within a possession. Mitcham’s layup with 1:03 to play marked VASJ’s first field goal of the quarter.
Following a defensive stop, Waag fired to Hameed in the corner next to VASJ’s bench. Hameed, who finished with eight points and was hounded by Cleveland Heights’ backcourt, lofted a shot over a defender that netted the eventual gamewinning points.
“I was thinking that shot’s in,” Waag said. “We’re going to win, that’s what I was thinking. It was definitely going in.”
Starting point guard Jordan Calhoun will miss most of the month with a knee injury. Waag and Hameed struggled at times against the Tigers’ full-court, physical pressure, but made the plays necessary for VASJ to leave its home floor as winners.
“It was a little hard,” Hameed said. “The crowd was into it, the game was intense but coach told us to keep fighting.”
VASJ won its first game after the Vikings opened their season with a 31-point loss at Pickerington North.
Coach Babe Kwasniak called VASJ’s performance the worst he’s had by a team that still beat a quality opponent. The atmosphere buoyed the Vikings.
“The Viking community won that game,” Kwasniak said. “There’s nowhere else on the planet we could’ve played that game and won.”
Nigel Martin led all scorers with 23 points for Cleveland Heights.
“I didn’t think we played well the entire game,” Cruz said. “To our kids’ credit, we stayed in the game and gave ourselves a chance to win it.”