Basketball Recap: Mentor Comes Up Short

Mentor has been a dominant force so far, but they're in the middle of a mini-slump at the moment. They were beaten by the Brunswick Blue Devils 109-70 on Friday. While losing is never fun, the Cardinals can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Ohio basketball rankings (they are ranked 45th, while the Blue Devils are ranked eighth).

Mentor lost despite a true team effort on offense. The best among them was Tony Katava, who went 5-for-12 to rack up 14 points and seven boards. The team also got some help courtesy of Bernard Gnjatic, who posted 12 points.

Mentor's defeat dropped their record down to 12-7. As for Brunswick, the win (which was their 11th in a row) raised their record to 17-3.

Looking ahead, Mentor won't have much time to rest: their next game is against Glenville at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday. Glenville is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 61 points per game this season. As for Brunswick, they will head out on the road to square off against Strongsville at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Strongsville is on a three-game streak of home wins, Brunswick a three-game streak of away wins -- so someone will have to leave a streak behind on the court.