The Rocky River Ravens men’s basketball team lost a heartbreaker to Cox Mill on Tuesday night in an away non-conference game.  This contest was a fantastic high school basketball game with both teams making runs at different times during the hard fought matchup.

These two teams played like warriors and both teams best players stepped up to lead their respective clubs in a playoff environment.  The noise volume was high and the tension level was at a feverish pitch as every play seemed to have an impact on the final outcome.

At the end of the first period the Ravens took a 17-12 lead over the Chargers who were the 2016-2017 3A State Champions.  The fast paced game was played with a lot of emotion on both sides as Jaden Springer the outstanding highly recruited number one ranked player in the state in the 2020 class was making his shots for the Ravens.  Meanwhile, the Chargers number one ranked player in North Carolina for 2019 Wendell Moore seemed to have a slow start offensively, however, he had a few blocked shots and was physical under the boards for the Chargers.

The first half ended with the Chargers scoring 25 points in the second period compared with the Ravens 17 points giving Cox Mill a 37-34 lead at the intermission.  Wendell Moore scored most of his 14 points in the second period igniting the Chargers and their very loud supportive fans.  Khalid Davis chipped in six points for the Chargers.  While Jaden Springer lead all scorers up to this point with 21 points and received some excellent support from Marcus Evans, Darlinstone Dubar and Jordan Campbell.   Also, Freshman Kahlil Brantley showed some nifty moves driving down the middle with two outstanding layups.

In the third period the Ravens came out of the locker room with high energy and Darlinstone Dubar found his shot along with Jordan Campbell to take a 51-46 lead  outscoring the Chargers 17 to 9 in their second run of the game.  Also, defensively it was the Ravens best period of the game as they applied both full court and half court pressure disrupting the Chargers tempo and forcing long three point shots that did not fall.  The Ravens dominated the boards during this run which added to the Chargers frustration.

However, in the fourth period the Chargers two outstanding Division 1 players took over the game and dominated inside and outside the paint giving the Ravens fits.  Coach Jason Moseley used all his time outs to make the necessary adjustments and matchups to give his team their best opportunity to win.  It all paid off as the game ended in a 67-67 tie in regulation when Jaden Springer with under 8.7 seconds remaining in the game took a 3 point shot hitting the rim and was fouled.  Springer nailed all three free throws to tie the game, thus creating the 4:00 minute overtime.

In overtime both teams initially hit 3 point shots, then the Chargers took a 76-74 lead with 57 seconds remaining on the scoreboard clock.  After Moore connected on a slam to make the score 78-74 he rejected Springer who drove the lane causing some high emotions among the two star athletes.  Rechon “Leaky” Black was also involved in the aerial rejection.  With 11 seconds on the clock the Chargers hit two free throws to ice the game.

Moore led all scorers with 41 points for the victors, while Jaden Springer led the Ravens with 30 points.  Meanwhile, Dubar contributed a consistent 17 points and Jordan Campbell added 12 points for the Ravens.