Friday’s Heavyweight Bouts

Game Results:

 📍 RWE 77, City Reapers 73

 📍 Cold Hearts 76, Rolling Loud 69

The matchup between the No. 1 and 2 teams in the OTE Strictly Rankings lived up to the hype, as RWE captured their first win in program history, taking down the City Reapers, 77-73 in a game that came down to the wire 🥇

RWE held a slim one point lead in the final minute of the game and with the game on the line, it was Jason Jackson who came up big for RWE as he drove to the cup and put in a big gut punch layup that put the team up three 🧊

After starting the season 0-2 without star big Somto Cyril, who also missed Friday’s game with a left hand injury, this game was a must-win for RWE, and they played like it with two players crossing the 20-point threshold

• Karter Knox led all players with 21 points, as his explosive athleticism proved too much for the Reapers to handle, while teammate Daquan Davis knocked in 20 points of his own, including four triples

• Davis and Nathan Missia-Dio filled in admirably for defensive superstar Cyril, as Davis racked up four steals while Missia-Dio led the team with two mega swats 🔒

After starting the season a perfect 2-0, the City Reapers dropped just their second game in the programs history, as they will look to get back to their winning ways next week. The Reapers were spearheaded by Jaeden Mustaf, who stepped into more of a scoring role as he racked up 18 points. Mustaf was all over the court, pulling down eight rebounds, generating two rips and swatting a shot in what was his best game of the young season 💰

• Bryson Tiller registered his third straight game with double-digit rebounds, as he pulled down a game-high 13 boards to match the 13 points he scored in the contest

• Tyler Jackson had an exceptional second half, scoring all ten of his points in the period, including a couple of clutch triples 🎯

Time for game two. What looked to be a runaway early proved to be another tight contest in the second game of the night, as the Cold Hearts narrowly defeated Rolling Loud, 76-69 🥶

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The Cold Hearts led by 13 going into the half and seemed to be running away with the game, but Rolling Loud proved they still had some fight left in them cutting the lead to as low as one point before eventually falling, dropping to 0-3 on the season 😬

The Cold Hearts deployed a well-rounded scoring approach, as Adam Oumiddoch led the team with 17 points while Kanon Catchings and Mikel Brown Jr. finished close behind with 14 points apiece. After missing the first game of the season, Catchings has been critical to the Cold Hearts operation, averaging a team best 19 points a game 🥊

• Elsewhere for the Cold Hearts, Ole Miss commit John Bol had his best game of the young season, as he racked up a team-best nine boards while also swatting two shots and hitting two clutch free throws down the stretch

• Samis Calderon was tasked with guarding Rolling Loud’s best player on the court for much of the night, and did an excellent job, as he put a game-high three steals while also logging one big-time block

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For Rolling Loud, who fall to 0-3 after this loss, it was former Cold Hearts standout Naasir Cunningham who was the story of the night, as he scored a team-high 17 points and was critical in the teams comeback attempt

• Martin Sommerville was the calming influence Rolling Loud needed, as he led the team with six assists, while also taking on a leadership role on the defensive side of the ball where he recorded three steals

• Penn State commit Miles Goodman was a force in the paint, as he pulled down a game-high ten rebounds and remains one of the top rebounders in the league

Rolling Loud will finish up their road trip in Phoenix, Arizona on Sunday where they will take on the Diamond Doves, as both teams look to snare their first win of the season 🙏

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