The Rocky River Ravens defeated Northwest Cabarrus High School 72-67 in their season opener against a tenacious opponent who tried to muscle the Ravens in a physical basketball contest. The Ravens Jaden Springer the outstanding nationally recognized sophomore atthlete scored 37 points, pulled down 12 rebounds and blocked 4 shots in the victory. Springer scored 24 points from the foul line missing only three free throws to destroy the strategy the Trojans applied to slow the talented 6’4″ Guard down.
Meanwhile, on Friday night the Ravens took on the visiting South Mecklenburg Sabres and completely dominated the visitors in a 87-45 win on their home court. Junior Forward Darlinstone Dubar was a beast early on in the game and he just plowed through the South Mecklenburg defense while controlling the boards with Sophomore standout Jaden Springer.
At the half the Ravens had a comfortable lead and opened up to a forty point lead in the third period on a 22-5 run over a six minute timeframe. Springer, Jordan Campbell, Dubar, Marcus Evans, Jaelyn Lewis, Trayden Williams and freshman Point Guard Kahlil Brantley made outstanding contributions going into the fourth quarter when Coach Jason Moseley rested his starters to give his bench players some good game experience. The freshman Brantley showed he has potential to be a major player in the Ravens program over the next four years to complement a talented group of returning sophomores and juniors.
This Ravens team early on is averaging 79.5 points per game so they can score, they have good team speed, can jump, rebound, shoot free throws and play solid defense giving up an average of 56 points per game. The only downside is the team has a tendency to showboat and players want to dunk the ball instead of taking an easy lay up which may hurt them if it continues in a close game, they took off 10 easy points from the scoreboard with missed slams. The writer believes in a close game the coach will get this matter corrected when it really counts against tougher competition in the SW4A Conference.
The Ravens are now 2-0 on the season at home and will hit the road after Thanksgiving with an away non-conference game against Cox Mill in Concord, NC on Tuesday November 28th at 7:30 PM.
