Basketball Recap: Shannon Payne's Big Game Can't Quite Lead Cuyahoga Falls over Nordonia

Cuyahoga Falls lost against Nordonia back in February of 2021, and unfortunately they wound up with the same result on Saturday. The Cuyahoga Falls Black Tigers fell 53-45 to the Nordonia Knights. While losing is never fun, the Black Tigers can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Ohio basketball rankings (they are ranked 416th, while the Knights are ranked 143rd).

Shannon Payne

Steals

02/15/25 vs Nordonia	2
02/14/25 @ Aurora	4
02/07/25 @ Revere	3

Several Black Tigers players turned in solid performances despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was Shannon Payne, who went 8-for-15 to rack up 19 points and eight boards. Payne is also on a roll when it comes to steals, as he's now grabbed two or more in each of the last three games he's played. Hayden Johnson was another key player, putting up nine points along with eight rebounds and four steals.

Cuyahoga Falls is on a three-game losing streak that has dropped them down to 9-13. Those losses can't be blamed on the team's offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 55.3 points over those games. As for Nordonia, the victory was the third in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 13-9.

Coming up, Cuyahoga Falls will welcome South at 7:00 p.m. on February 22nd. As for Nordonia, they will square off against University School at 7:00 p.m. on February 22nd.