Southeast is 2-8 against Mogadore since January of 2019 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Tuesday. The two teams will face off at 6:45 p.m. on January 16th without much rest after finishing up games yesterday.
Southeast struggled with assists on Saturday (Newton Falls had 13 more) and sadly the final score reflected it. Southeast took a 44-35 hit to the loss column at the hands of Newton Falls. The loss unfortunately continues a disappointing trend for Southeast in their matchups with Newton Falls: they've now lost five in a row.
The match pitted two dominant guards against one another in Garrett Sprutte and Jabriel Rufai. Rufai had a great game and dropped a double-double on 12 points and ten rebounds. Meanwhile, Sprutte was balling out in the loss, dropping a double-double on 24 points and 12 rebounds.
Meanwhile, Mogadore had already won six in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 17.5 points), and they went ahead and made it seven on Saturday. They walked away with a 54-47 victory over Smithville. Given Mogadore's advantage in MaxPreps' Ohio basketball rankings (they are ranked 233rd, while Smithville is ranked 490th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Southeast's defeat ended a three-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 6-4. As for Mogadore, their win was their fourth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 8-3.
Things could have been worse for Southeast, but things could have been a whole lot better as they took a 73-56 loss to Mogadore in their previous meeting back in February of 2023. Can Southeast avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.