Basketball Game Preview: Cuyahoga Falls Black Tigers vs. Barberton Magics

Cuyahoga Falls is 2-8 against Barberton since February of 2018 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Cuyahoga Falls Black Tigers will look to defend their home court against the Barberton Magics at 7:30 p.m. Cuyahoga Falls is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 51.9 points per game this season.

Last Friday, Cuyahoga Falls lost to Highland on the road by a 64-45 margin. 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 453rd, while the Hornets are ranked 78th).

Defeat or not, Cuyahoga Falls got some senior leadership from Austin Brickley and Shannon Payne. Brickley went 5 for 11 en route to 15 points, while Payne went 5 of 8 on his way to 11 points and seven rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Cody Leon, who posted eight points.

Meanwhile, Barberton played a tough matchup on Tuesday in which they were outscored in every quarter. They took a blow against Jackson, falling 91-53. The loss continues a trend for the Magics in their matchups with the Polar Bears: they've now lost three in a row.

Barberton's defeat dropped their record down to 9-7. As for Cuyahoga Falls, their loss dropped their record down to 7-10.

Cuyahoga Falls ended up a good deal behind Barberton in their previous meeting back in December of 2024, losing 62-46. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Barberton's De'Arion Holley, who dropped a double-double on 34 points and 16 boards. Now that Cuyahoga Falls knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.