Basketball Recap: Austin Brickley Key Part of a Team Effort in Black Tigers Win

There's no place like home for Cuyahoga Falls, who bounced back after a loss on the road last Friday. They narrowly escaped with a win as the squad sidled past the Barberton Magics 61-59. This was a revenge game for the Black Tigers: when they faced off against the Magics back in December of 2024, they had to take a 62-46 loss.

Cuyahoga Falls' success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Austin Brickley led the charge by going 9 of 19 en route to 22 points and three steals. Brickley has been hot recently, having posted two or more steals the last three times he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Shannon Payne, who went 7 for 10 on his way to 19 points and six rebounds.

Barberton lost on Friday despite a true team effort on offense, the best among them being De'Arion Holley, who dropped a double-double on 24 points and 14 boards. That was a full 40.7% of Barberton's points, marking the third time in a row he's posted more than a third of the team's points. Another player making a difference was Joey Ondo, who went 5 of 12 en route to 16 points along with seven rebounds and five assists.

Cuyahoga Falls has been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four contests, which provided a massive bump to their 8-10 record this season. As for Barberton, their defeat was their third straight on the road, which dropped their record down to 9-8.

Cuyahoga Falls will be playing in front of their home fans against Roosevelt at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Cuyahoga Falls is facing Roosevelt at the right time seeing as Roosevelt is stuck on an eight-game losing streak. Barberton has already played their next matchup, a 55-48 loss against Olentangy on the 2nd.