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Sports

Cleveland Heights Basketball Teams Among Area's Best

Boys, girls in good position heading into new year

While the football team’s perfect regular season was a miracle of inspiration, basketball is still the school’s daily bread.

Whatever conclusions one might draw from the , most around the city still associate the school with the round ball, and this season, it’s not just Tyree and Kojo, but also Jasmine and Ashaunti who are raising the program’s profile, too.

But for Eastlake North’s 54-50 win over the girls on Dec. 7, the Cleveland Heights basketball program would have a perfect record heading into 2012.

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The boys are 6-0 overall after trouncing John Adams, 90-46, on Friday night and 2-0 in the Lake Erie League. The girls are 7-1 overall after winning the first “Hoopin’ in the Heights” tournament on Thursday and 4-0 in the LEL.  Both teams are ranked in the top 15 of The Plain Dealer’s Top 25 basketball polls.

Needless to say, checking the box scores requires a little double duty this season.

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Boys’ coach Andy Suttell can feel the rising tide that flows from the football team’s achievements, and it’s translating into big things on the basketball court.

“Success breeds more success. You have very good things happening in Cleveland Heights. We feel good about that. I think the kids in both programs view it as a basketball school. And for both programs to be having success, we feel good about that,” Suttell said.

So far, , a 63-58 home victory on Dec. 17. Coach Suttell said the team will need to improve its set plays as the season wears on. Still, he has been pleased with the overall effort as more guys become used to the rotation like center-forward Antonio Harper, who has started each game since the St. Edward matchup.

“The guys are playing the way we want them to play. We’re playing fast. We’re getting after people. We’re making it difficult for people to be comfortable to run their offense. That doesn’t mean we still don’t have a lot of room for improvement, but we feel we’re making progress,” Suttell said.

Kojo Lockhart led the Tigers with 16 points against John Adams, one point above Tyree Gaiter. Najeeb Johnson scored 11. Suttell hopes this kind of balanced scoring continues into LEL play.

“Ty’s (Gaiter) going to get the bulk of the shots and opportunities, but guys are starting to be comfortable. Guys like Kojo Lockhart are playing great basketball. As he gains confidence, we’re going to see a lot nights where he’s at 15, 16 (points),” Suttell said.

Perhaps the surprise of the season has been the girls’ team and its new shooting guard Ashaunti Abshaw. The sophomore, who moved up from junior varsity, had a game-high 24 points in the team’s 57-52 win over Geneva in the holiday tournament’s championship game. The Tigers crushed Collinwood, 90-36, .

Girls’ coach Kim Hansen believes the team is between the front court of Jasmine Harper and Supriya Frierson and its three-guard backcourt particularly in No. 2 guard Abshaw and No. 3 Arion Jackson, who are accompanied by senior transfer Jasmine Rasul.

The two sophomores often give the Tigers a size advantage in the backcourt. Abshaw is listed at 5-foot-9, while Jackson is 5-11. Hansen said their length played a crucial role in defeating Geneva.

“(Abshaw and Jackson) bring an athleticism that we haven’t had in those guard positions before. They run the floor. They rebound extremely well. Both of them are probably our best guard defenders.  … Putting that together with what we can do with the inside game is a bonus.”

But if there’s one thing Hansen would like to have, it’s a little better shooting from either the mid-range or three-point area.

“We want to become a (better) perimeter shooting team. Right now, that’s a bit of an Achilles’ heel for us. I do think over time, we’re going to find a couple of kids who will be our shooters,” Hansen said.

The boys host Shaw at 2 p.m. Friday. The girls next host GlenOak at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.

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