Basketball Recap: Strongsville's Higher State Rank on Full Display on Friday

On Friday, the Strongsville Mustangs earned a 71-63 win over the Glenville Tarblooders. Given the Mustangs' advantage in MaxPreps' Ohio basketball rankings (they are ranked 21st, while the Tarblooders are ranked 122nd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Despite the loss, Glenville still got an impressive performance from Xavier Vickerstaff, who almost dropped a double-double with 35 points and nine boards. Those 35 points gave Vickerstaff a new career-high. Arvell Nelson Jr was another key player, putting up 14 points.

The victory made it two in a row for Strongsville and bumps their season record up to 15-3. It's not like the team was facing easy opposition over that stretch either, as it included 11-5 Mentor (their opponents had an average overall winning percentage of 71.9% over those games). As for Glenville, their loss ended a three-game streak of away wins and brought them to 15-5.

Strongsville has already played their next match, a 72-47 win against SPIRE Academy on the 10th. As for Glenville, they will venture away from home to take on Mentor at 7:30 p.m. on February 15th.