By Phil Keren

Correspondent

A young Crestwood team fought the good fight in a 58-46 loss to a senior-heavy Chagrin Falls squad on Friday evening.

Andrew Mertz, the Red Devils’ first-year head coach, praised his team for their willingness to hustle, scrap and claw in the first eight games of the 2025-26 season.

“I couldn’t be more proud of the effort both today and the entire season,” Mertz said. “These kids battle until the very last whistle. Sometimes it even looks like they play harder as we get closer to the end of the game, so from a coach’s standpoint, I could not be more proud of that. They’re young guys, so to get this out of them now is … a good feeling about what the future (holds).”

While Chagrin Falls (7-4) maintained a double-digit lead in the second half, Crestwood’s (1-7) tenacious defense kept the Red Devils within striking distance most of the way. According to Mertz, this game was similar to several others where the Red Devils hung around, but couldn’t quite close the deal.

However, Mertz noted he felt like his team was on the cusp of taking a big step forward.

“We’ve been really close,” he said. “We’ve been hanging tight, we’ve been weathering storms, weathering runs and hanging around and I feel like we’re really close to just breaking through.”

In the first quarter, Crestwood kept pace with Chagrin Falls thanks to four points each from sophomore guard Colton Mayle and senior center Angelo Dinardo. The Red Devils had the early lead at two different points of the first quarter (5-3 and 7-5). After Crestwood senior guard

Joel Custer made two free throws to give his team a 7-5 advantage, Chagrin Falls outscored the Red Devils 11-4 during the final five minutes of the first quarter to take a 16-11 lead. The

Tigers’ scoring consisted of a pair of three-pointers from senior guard Quin Bargar, a trey by senior guard Brady Devito and two free throws from senior guard Jayden Hawkins.

The teams traded baskets at the start of the second period, but then Chagrin Falls strung together an 8-1 run to build a 29-16 lead with just under three minutes to play in the half.

Those points came courtesy of a three-pointer and a pair of breakaway layups by Devito, and a foul shot make from junior forward Peter Fischer. Mayle banked in a turnaround jumper and sophomore guard Jackson Mertz swished a three-pointer from the corner to key Crestwood’s 5-2 run to close out the first half. The teams went to the locker room with Chagrin Falls leading, 31-21.

Crestwood played a zone defense in the first half but switched to an aggressive man-to-man approach in the second half. By creating turnovers and getting defensive stops, the Red Devils held Chagrin Falls scoreless for the first three minutes of the second half. Mertz said he decided to switch to a man-to-man defense due to the Tigers’ strong outside shooting and because of his team’s own defensive intensity.

“We run that zone in a way that it forces what I like to call bad 3-point shots, typically, and they were knocking them down,” Mertz said. “So it forced us to get out of it early. I didn’t want that lead to get too big, to get to a point where it wasn’t recoverable and I’ve been very impressed with our effort as a whole in man defense in practice the past two weeks, so I felt like now we’re at a point where I can comfortably play man.”

Chagrin Falls matched Crestwood’s defensive intensity and did not allow the Red Devils to make a field goal until Mayle knocked down a pull-up jumper without about a minute left in the third quarter.

The teams took turns with scoring runs in the third period: Chagrin Falls had an 8-1 run to extend its lead to 39-22. Crestwood answered with six consecutive points – Mayle’s pull-up jump shot make was followed by two free throws each from Mertz and Dinardo — to cut the Tigers’ lead to 39-28 at the conclusion of the third quarter.

Crestwood was unable to trim the deficit lower than double digits in the fourth quarter. Chagrin Falls opened the period on a 9-2 run and eventually built a 58-37 lead with about 90 seconds left. The Tigers then put in their reserves to close out the game. Mertz tipped his hat to Chagrin Falls and noted they are strong in many phases of the game.

“They knock shots down…they’re extremely physical and you can see that maturity out of those seniors, the juniors that you can see that’s not there in our sophomores yet,” Mertz said.

“Anticipating screens, plowing through screens, switching very well defensively, communication. I think they’re just a tough team. They’re very senior-laden and it shows.”

Mayle led Crestwood in scoring with 16 points, while Dinardo added 12. Mertz said he can count on Mayle to give him a full effort in each game.

“I know every night when I step on the floor that he’s going to battle for me until the very end,” he said. “He’s a sophomore, he’s a young guy, (I’m) super-excited about what his future holds and he’s a major part of what we do right now.”

Mertz noted the team needs to work on improving its 3-point shooting.

“We had another horrible day shooting from three,” he said. “That’s kind of been our Achilles all year…we’ve been telling the kids…you make two or three or four of those and it’s a completely different ball game. So we’re right there… that confidence I think is what we need to get to another level, especially with those young guys, to push us over the edge this year.”

Devito led Chagrin Falls with 19 points and Bargar added 13.