'My turn': Brayden Gross leads Louisville in state-ranked boys basketball battle vs. CVCA

LOUISVILLE — Multiple players can take the lead for the Louisville High School boys basketball team.

"Tonight was just my turn," junior Brayden Gross said Tuesday.

Well, he made the most of it.

Gross produced a monster double-double as Louisville beat visiting CVCA 80-60 in a matchup of state-ranked teams.

The small, quick Royals — tied for fifth in this week's Associated Press Division II state poll — didn't have anyone to match up with the 6-foot-6 Gross.

That led to Gross posting career highs of 27 points and 22 rebounds as the Leopards (12-1) — ranked sixth in Division I — handed CVCA (12-1) its first loss of the season.

Louisville head coach Tom Siegfried challenged the big kid everyone calls "BG" this week about his effort. Gross responded in leading Louisville to its 11th straight win.

"Me and Coach Sig had a little conversation in practice," Gross said. "He got on me. I felt like I had to go out there and play harder than usual."

In a fast-paced, up-and-down game, Gross was everywhere. He had a double-double by halftime, at which point Louisville led 37-25. He grabbed a defensive rebound late in the first half, brought the ball up the floor himself and glided straight through the lane for a layup when no CVCA player cut him off.

He started the second half with a put-back dunk to reenergize the big home crowd coming out of halftime.

The Leopards' lead only dipped back into single digits briefly midway through the third quarter. Their advantage was 55-37 when Beau Siegfried beat the third-quarter buzzer with a corner 3-pointer — his second buzzer-beating shot of the game after closing the first quarter with a runner from just inside the 3-point line.

Siegfried, the Leopards' junior point guard and son of the head coach, scored 14 points. Hayden Nigro, a 6-5 senior wing, totaled 17 points and seven rebounds. Tate Aljancic, a 6-4 junior wing, added 10 points and five rebounds.

Louisville dominated smaller CVCA on the boards 43-24, with a lot of that damage coming from the long, active Gross.

"To be quite honest with you, the last three or four games he's been kind of stagnant," Tom Siegfried said. "You know, he can be stagnant and go for 15 and 10. But I thought tonight he played with a lot of intensity. He played with a motor.

"I think you saw what he can do. The bottom line is he can bring the ball up. He can shoot it. He can defend. It's quite a weapon to have when you have a 6-6 guy that can do all that."

Gross shot 10-for-17 from the floor and 7-for-8 from the foul line.

Even CVCA head coach Matt Futch — a former big man for the University of Akron — took a little pleasure in Gross' work around the rim, considering this era of perimeter-oriented basketball.

"It was a breath of fresh air to see a guy go to work inside like that," Futch said with a smile. "He did his job well."

Junior Niles Nuru led CVCA with 17 points. Sophomore Charley Levak scored 16, while senior LaVelle Sharpe Jr. added 14.

"We knew coming into this game we really had to be on our A-game," Futch said. "I think Louisville is one of the best teams in the state. We knew with this environment this was going to be a tough place to play. We knew we were going to get something out of it."

CVCA's pressure bothered Louisville at times and the Royals got to the rim off the dribble fairly often.

Finishing shots was a problem. CVCA shot 34.9% from the floor and 3-for-20 from the 3-point line.

Tuesday is an experience Futch hopes pays dividends down the road for CVCA.

"It's no knock on any Division II team in our area, but nobody is going to be as good as Louisville," said Futch, whose Royals lead the PAC-7 by two games at 8-0. "You want that type of test."

Siegfried liked the challenge the "feisty" Royals provided, making Louisville get up and down and play fast.

"I knew what we were getting into and all we've worked on the last couple of days is getting back and trying to contain the dribble," he said. "They're going to have a nice run in Division II. They have some weapons and they're a tough guard."

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This article originally appeared on The Repository: Ohio high school boys basketball: Louisville vs. CVCA