Basketball Recap: Michael Swallow's Big Game Can't Quite Lead Rocky River over Westlake

Rocky River was the 57-54 winner over Westlake when they last played one another back in December of 2024, but their luck changed this time around. The Rocky River Pirates took a 79-67 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Westlake Demons on Friday. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game last Friday (62), the Pirates still had to take the loss.

Rocky River lost despite a true team effort on offense, the best among them being Michael Swallow, who posted 14 points and five boards. Another player making a difference was Rowan Kennedy, who scored 14 points.

Westlake's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Aj Defazio led the charge by going 5 of 7 en route to 17 points and seven rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Andrew Wallenhorst, who had 18 points.

Rocky River's record is now 9-6. As for Westlake, they are on a roll lately: they've won nine of their last 11 contests, which provided a nice bump to their 11-4 record this season.

Rocky River will host Valley Forge at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Rocky River is facing Valley Forge at the right time seeing as Valley Forge is stuck on a seven-game losing streak. As for Westlake, they didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next game, a 61-58 loss against Olmsted Falls on the 28th.