Raider Review, Jan. 7-13

Ezra Marks, Raider Zone Reporter|January 15, 2019

Freshman goalie Garrett Ritts looks on as Shaker played top ranked Gilmour Friday night.

The “Raider Review” is a weekly series that The Shakerite will publish every Monday night, covering the previous week in sports. This week’s edition covers sports events that fell between Jan. 7-13.

Men’s Basketball

On Tuesday night, the men’s varsity basketball team picked up a gutsy win at Solon 95-91 in overtime. Junior Dakota Cochran had a huge game and led the team with 27 points and 10 rebounds. Junior Shammah Scott and senior Demaris Conner both combined to score 37 points in the victory. Solon senior guard Mike Bekelja, who scored 35 points to eliminate Shaker at regional semifinals last year, had the hot hand as he scored 32 points, including a buzzer beater to send the game to overtime after Shaker junior Che Johnson hit a free throw to put the Raiders up two with 10 seconds left. The win improves Shaker to 7-4 as they host winless Strongsville at home Friday night.

The Raiders also picked up another win on Friday night, beating Strongsville 75-53. Going into halftime, the Raiders led only by one, but came out surging in the third quarter as they outscored Strongsville 25-4. Freshman Danny Young Jr. led the way with 18 points, while junior Dakota Cochran also chipped in 15 points. The Raiders, now on a five game winning streak and improving to 8-4, will travel to Medina on Friday, who is 6-5.

The men’s JV basketball won both of their games this week. They also played Solon and Strongsville. The freshman team team went 1-1 as they lost to Strongsville, but beat Solon. Both teams will also play Medina on Friday night.

Women’s Basketball

The women’s varsity basketball team suffered two blowouts this past week when they lost to Solon 77-37 and Medina 77-18. Solon sophomore guard Hailey Weaver led her team to a big lead as she scored double digit points. For the Raiders, senior Beijae Donegan led the way in points, with help from junior Jayla Smith and sophomore Hilary Shakelton. Against Medina, the Raiders struggled early as they fell behind 26-0 after the first quarter. Medina improves their undefeated season (15-0) as they had eight players score at least five points. Senior Kayla Young led the way for the Raiders with five points. The team, now 0-13, will host Strongsville on Thursday.

The women’s JV basketball team also lost both of their games this week against Solon 33-10 and Medina 54-14. They will also play against Strongsville on Thursday.

Hockey

The Raiders went 1-2 over the past week as they beat Mentor 7-1 but lost to Gilmour 3-2 and St. Edward 4-1. On Wednesday night, the Raiders obliterated Mentor as they scored six straight goals to open the game. Senior Jack Smith led the team with three goals. On Friday night, the Raiders lost in overtime against Gilmour, who is ranked number one in the state. After a game tying goal to force overtime from Senior Britt Anderson, Gilmour ended the game with a power play goal. Freshman goalie Garrett Ritts played phenomenally, having 32 saves. On Saturday night, the Raiders suffered a frustrating loss to St. Edward, the number three team in the state. St. Edward took advantage of the Raiders’ mistakes and converted them to goals. The Raiders, now 12-8-6 will travel to Kent this Saturday to play Culver.

The JV hockey team won Friday night against Gilmour 2-0, with sophomore Max Benincasa scoring both goals. The team will participate in the MLK tournament at Rocky River this weekend.

Wrestling

The wrestling team did not have any matches this past week. The team will travel to Alliance High School on Friday and Saturday to participate in the Top Gun Invitational.

Swimming

On Saturday, the varsity swimming team traveled to the University of Akron to compete in the Northeast Classic Invitational where the men’s team finished 12th out of 42. The team was highlighted by senior Charlie Gustafson, as he placed fourth in the 100 meter butterfly and 2nd in the 200 meter freestyle. The women’s team qualified six people for the meet, but no one made finals, thus no points were recorded. Both teams will host Boardman at Woodbury on Saturday.