RESERVE GETS REVENGE ON WATERLOO

ATWATER OH- It was boys basketball on a Tuesday night in Northeast Ohio and with that brought rivals, both old and new, to the court thus opening up conference play in The Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference’s (MVAC) Scarlet Division. All eight teams from the conference competed in four games across three counties Tuesday night. Including Portage County, where the town of Atwater’s own Waterloo Vikings met The Western Reserve Blue Devils on the hardwood!

A repeat matchup between the two schools, as The Vikings earned a 43-37 victory, on the girls side, against Western Reserve on Monday night. Leaving the boys with revenge on their mind, The Blue Devils also thought back to this past football season, where Waterloo gained the victory on the gridiron 27-24 on September 16th.

Plenty of animosity and tension has been built in this, new-found, friendly rivalry that has emerged in recent years and Tuesday night was no different. Taking a page from the girls teams a night previous, it was four quarters of a defensive grudge-match between the two programs. With guys like Hayden Fellows (Reserve) and Drew Flarida (Waterloo) battling for every rebound, every loose ball and making life difficult in the paint for opposing offenses.

As both teams jockeyed for position in a feeling out process on offense, Reserve was able to grab an early 14-4 advantage. The Vikings would have to turn back the clock and claw their way back into the game, old-school, with free throws. Working themselves into the single-bonus Waterloo scored their next seven points at the stripe, going 7 for 8, including a 6 for 6 stretch by Navarre Alhassan! Stepping back a few paces, Alhassan also nailed down a big 3-pointer that made the deficit just four for The Vikings heading into halftime with The Blue Devils leading it 18-14.

Returning from the half, both teams picked up where they left off defensively, meaning both coaches were looking for someone to step up offensively. Enter Luke Henning, a young man who hit a 3 in the first half, but dialed it in from all over the court in the second 16 minutes. Hitting two more shots from distance, Henning helped Western Reserve reclaim their double digit advantage. A point in which The Blue Devils would never look back from! Scoring 14 points total, his season-high, Henning also had some partners in crime with Hayden Fellows and Dom Riccardi both scoring in double figures.

Heading into conference play, The Vikings were 2-1 with wins against Windham and Rootstown, while dropping one to a tough Mogadore team. Despite The Blue Devils 0-3 record, reading between the lines showed that Western Reserve was right there in games against three phenomenal programs in Mathews, Crestview and Struthers. While also not losing any of those contests by more than eight points; however, Reserve needed to learn how to win through their tough losses.

Following the loss, Waterloo (2-2)(0-1) will look to have better luck against the Blue Devils, as they head to McDonald (2-2)(1-0) on Friday, December 16th. As for Western Reserve (1-3)(1-0), they will now travel to the launching pad in Lowellville to take on the conference-favorite Lowellville Rockets (4-0)(1-0), also on Friday! Four teams now sit at 1-0 in The MVAC, taking that first-step to realizing a conference crown!

Scoring (Western Reserve)

Luke Henning: 14 PTS.

Hayden Fellows: 13 PTS

Dom Riccardi: 12 PTS.

Josh Klasic: 5 PTS.

Joey Serensky: 2 PTS.

Scoring (Waterloo)

Navarre Alhassan: 11 PTS.

Anthony Podojil: 7 PTS.

Ryan Wise: 6 PTS.

Drew Flarida: 4 PTS

Kai Warren: 2 PTS