The Chagrin Falls Tigers are off to an excellent start led by senior James Kosmides, who has been rejecting opponent’s shots at a record pace.
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The Chagrin Falls Tigers are off to an excellent start led by senior James Kosmides, who has been rejecting opponent’s shots at a record pace.
In fact, Kosmides is the top shot blocker in the state, averaging more than six blocks per game.
Unfortunately, Kosmides was unavailable for the Tigers on Jan. 17 as they took on one of the CVC’s top guards, Beachwood’s Nate Lurie.
Without Kosmides controlling the paint, Lurie and the Bison went on to defeat the Tigers, 71-48.
“Not having Kosmides was a huge, huge issue,” Chagrin Falls Head Coach Dave Bargar said. “He is one of the most elite, if not the best, defender in the area — six blocks (averaged per game) and protects the rim.
“Not having him today was a big, big challenge for us. But I thought our guys in the first three quarters really, really battled. In the fourth quarter, we missed a lot of easy ones. Because of that, they were able to get out and get easy baskets, leaking out, and I thought that was the difference in the game.”
Tigers senior guard Nick Vinci added, “We didn’t have our best player, our center, so that hurt from the start.”
Although the Tigers were without Kosmides, they gave great effort, and the first half was close throughout.
Beachwood took a 30-26 halftime lead led by Lurie, who scored 13 points in the first half. Aiden Beresford led the Tigers in the first half with eight points.
The game was close through the middle of the second half, with Beachwood leading 49-41 going into the final quarter.
However, the Bison pulled away in the fourth quarter to get the victory, 71-48.
Lurie led the Bison with 17 points in the second half for a game-high 30 points.
Leading scorers for the Tigers were Nick Vinci (12 points), Ryan Curtiss (11) and Beresford (10). Also contributing to Chagrin Falls’ scoring were Max Crandall (4), Henry Barr (3), Spencer Kaas (3), Evan Castelluccio (2), Sam Kleid (2) and Anthony Rybak (2),
On Jan. 20, Kosmides returned to the starting lineup and gave the Tigers a great boost as they defeated Edgewood, 58-43.
In his return to the lineup, Kosmides’ defense changed the game. In fact, he amazingly had 11 blocks, almost double his average. Kosmides also had 10 rebounds, four steals and three assists to go along with 14 points.
Controlling the boards can certainly be crucial. In the game against the Bison, the Tigers had 31 rebounds. But with Kosmides back in action, the Tigers tallied 42 rebounds against the Warriors.
Leading the scoring for the Tigers in their victory over the Warriors was Curtiss (16 points), Kosmides (14), Crandall (10), Kaas (4), Ozzy DiFranco (3) and Will Rossi (3).
The Tigers are now 9-4 on the season.
As the season continues, Coach Bargar is focused on helping his team improve en route to the OHSAA playoffs.
“We’re still trying to improve in a lot of different areas,” Bargar said. “We think that if we can keep playing good basketball, being a Division III school this year, we think we have a chance to maybe make some noise in the tournament. That’s what our goal is right now: just trying to play the best we can every game, and hopefully we’re good enough when the tournament starts.”
The Tigers return to the hardwood Jan. 24 to face the West Geauga Wolverines.
