No five-star phenom, no problem: CVCA boys basketball undefeated and state ranked in 2024
CUYAHOGA FALLS – When a boys high school basketball team loses a top five player in the country, it can be excused for taking a step back the following season.
Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy isn’t one of those teams.
Darryn Peterson left in the offseason to play for West Virginia power Huntington Prep.
The third-ranked player in the nation took his 31.0 points per game, 9.8 rebounds, 2.8 steals and 1.3 assists with him and all the Royals have done is roll off 11 wins in a row to start 2023-24.
“It’s exciting to see how all the guys came together,” sophomore guard Charley Levak said. “When we didn’t have him, it wasn’t like it was a huge problem. We picked up and made it work. We’re playing as a team, staying connected, moving the ball and getting good shots.”
CVCA boys basketball is doing things the right way
This won’t be a story about life without Peterson, but a tale of just how solid CVCA (11-0, 7-0) has become.
The Royals knocked off Northwest 85-76 on Tuesday in a battle of Principals Athletic Conference unbeatens.
It marked the 25th consecutive league win by CVCA, which hasn’t lost a PAC game since Jan. 18, 2022 (Triway 83, CVCA 78).
The Royals, who are ranked seventh in the Division II state poll, got scoring from everywhere as LaVelle Sharpe Jr. dropped 27 points and had four assists.
Niles Nuru scored 15, dished four dimes and had seven rebounds, six of them offensive. Levak just missed a double-double with 10 points and nine assists.
Ricky Levak scored five points and added five offensive rebounds.
That offset solid showings from Ian Ziegler (25 points, 9 rebounds), Chase Badger (17 points, 4 assists) and Tristan Pennington (12 points) for Northwest (8-3, 6-1).
“This year, they’re playing a lot of guys who play extremely hard,” Northwest coach Mike Lower said. “They play extremely hard. They create havoc out there. Our keys tonight were to handle the ball and rebound and I don’t think we did either one of those things well.
“They have some athletic kids. A lot of it is they play hard and are athletic. We don’t have a lot of size, so it’s just figure out how to rebound and want the ball.”
As Lower said, the Royals had a 35-26 edge on the glass and turned Northwest over 21 times.
A lot of that comes with help from CVCA strength coach Chris Downing.
The pure want-to each Royal has makes up for the rest.
“This group of guys had their moments of varsity time last year,” CVCA coach Matt Futch said. “(Junior) Niles Nuru has been with me since he was a freshman. LaVelle may be our leading scorer, but we don’t need him to score his average for us to win. One thing I encourage our staff and players to do was to work hard.”
The first week of the season showed CVCA basketball it could be elite
A 75-67 win over Whitehall-Yearling to start the season got the Royals to believe. A 61-50 victory over Brush two games later took that belief to a new level.
Futch is a man of faith as well and believes whatever situation he is put in happens for a reason. What the former all-state Buchtel standout has done with this team is mold it into a cohesive unit.
Sharpe (17.0 points per game), Nuru (13.0) and Charley Levak (11.0) can get theirs in the flow of the game, but Brayden Harris and Ricky Levak are just as capable of scoring as well.
A look at the game against Northwest shows that all 10 players who got in the game for four minutes or more scored at least a bucket and had at least one rebound.
“We were all locked in,” Sharpe said. “It was a dogfight. We really wanted to win that game. The team is strong. We all connect. We joke around in school and mess around before practice, but once it starts we’re locked in. We have a strong bond and nothing will break that bond.”
Contact Brad Bournival at bbournival@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter at @bbournival
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: High school basketball: CVCA succeeds without No. 3 player in country
