Miami, FL

Russia Defense Ravages Miami East To Remain Unbeaten…Raiders Win, 65-44 – Press Pros Magazine

Published

2 years ago

January 21, 2024

Russia Defense Ravages Miami East To Remain Unbeaten…Raiders Win, 65-44 – Press Pros Magazine

Offensive highlight, and it came early…Felix Francis flushes a dunk in transition in the first quarter of Russia’s 65-44 win over Miami East. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Sonny Fulks)

Russia played their favorite style of ball — fast and furious — to sink the Miami East Vikings 65-44. The Raiders came out red hot from 3-point land, then made a living off of fast break points.

By Alan Brads for Press Pros

Every great team needs a hustle player.

Russia has eight of ‘em.

No one wants to play against a defense like Russia’s, and not just because they’re skilled. They’re obnoxious, constantly up in your grill. And they’re brutally unforgiving. If you make a mistake, expose the basketball for even a split second, it’s a steal and a layup going the other way every single time.

Alan Brads is a journalism student at Cedarville University, and writes sports at large for Press Pros.

That’s exactly what the 8-6 Miami East Vikings discovered Friday night, on the losing end of a 65-44 ‘Raider’ experience.

Russia (14-0) had Miami East’s offense locked in the brig all night, not giving an inch to any offensive player, regardless of which one had the ball at any given moment. And that goes for all 94 feet of the court.

It’s organized chaos, like a dance that only they know involving perfectly timed traps in every area of the court. But it’s an ugly, gritty dance that involves a lot more diving on the floor than anything you’ll see at prom.

“Playing chaotic basketball is indescribably fun,” senior forward Felix Francis said. “We’re running around almost like we have our heads cut off, but we do it efficiently.”

Russia’s Vince Borcher picks the pocket of an unsuspecting Jacob Roeth during Friday’s 65-44 Raider win.

Most teams would love to apply 32 minutes of pressure like Russia does, but Russia isn’t conditioned like most teams. There’s not a slow player in their 8-man rotation, and they always gain the fatigue advantage as the game progresses. If Russia loses a game this year – and that’s if, not when – it won’t be because someone outran them.

They’re not just fast either, they’re twitchy and quick. Most of their guards could pursue careers as sleight of hand magicians, they’ve got the opportunistic fingers for it.

From the get go the Vikings’ ship looked poised to sink, as Russia knocked down 4 threes, and scored six points in transition to bound to a 25-12 lead at the end of the first.

“Seeing those shots go in for us early was big,” junior guard Benjamin York said. “We’ve been struggling from three especially, but Jaxon [Grogean] who was shooting the lights out.”

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York finished the night with a team leading 15 points, and Grogean scored 10, eight of which came in the first quarter. Braylon Cordonnier and Brayden Monnin both also found their way into double digits on the night.

Both highlights of the evening came in the first quarter. First Felix Francis flushed a dunk in transition, then after a Miami East timeout Hayden Quinter poked a ball free, and connected with Grogean on a slick behind-the-back bounce pass to convert the 2-on-1.

Whatever it takes…Russia’s Hayden Quinter blocks the passing attempt of the Vikings’ Jacob Roeth.

Where everything was working offensively in the first quarter, it froze to a stop in the second. Miami East found their footing in ball handling and slowed down their offense that Russia had previously pushed to play a million miles an hour. But

A more stringent man defense for the Vikings put a stopper in the 3-point bottle the Raiders poured out on them in the first, and held Russia to just seven points in the second quarter.

“We were trying to get some matchups,” Russia Head Coach Spencer Cordonnier said. “We knew [Jacob] Roeth had three fouls, and sometimes when you do that guys tend to stand around, and that’s kinda what happened. I knew if we continued to guard then we could afford to do that.”

The third quarter brought more havoc – steals, loose balls, and now blocks. Felix Francis swatted one into the first row, and got a second on the same possession.

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“We knew Roeth was a big factor scoring double digits per game,” Francis said. “So coach said we were just gonna run people at him and get the ball out of his hands, and we ended up getting our hands on a lot of those balls and get some buckets.”

Roeth finished with a game-leading 19 points.

Jacob Roeth gets to the rim in the fourth quarter for a pair of his 19 points for the game.

The lead casually stretched to 22 late in the third, and a quiet fourth quarter finished in the 65-44 Raider win.

We knew coming over here it wasn’t gonna be easy, and it was gonna be a 32-minute fight,” Cordonnier said. “That’s exactly what we want this time of year.”

This marks win number 14 for Russia (14-0), and as the more old-fashioned among us start thinking about ripping January off the wall calendar, we have to wonder where – or if – this run ends.

Of their eight remaining games, five are against opponents they’ve already beaten – not that history guarantees the future, but it certainly can make predictions.

Houston, Fairlawn and Fort Loramie they blew out. Anna they also beat handily, but Botkins gave them the closest scare of the year.

Circle your February 9 on your calendar for that one, potentially with the SCAL title on the line.

Versailles, Ansonia and Marion Local make up the other three games that lie between Russia and regular season perfection.

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Ansonia likely won’t pose much of a threat, and enough common opponents between the SCAL and the MAC tell the tale that Russia will be heavy favorites against both Versailles and Marion Local – though again, crazier things have happened.

As York said about the possibility of a perfect season, “You gotta take it one game at a time. Everyone’s giving us their best shot.”

Felix Francis rises to reject a Viking shot attempt in the first half of Saturday’s Russia-Miami East game.

That’s the curse of being undefeated, but that’s a pretty darn good problem to have.

Looking eight games ahead is some pretty heavy duty conjecture, but the road to perfection isn’t as winded and twisting as it could be, and with less than a month left in the season it’s on all, or at least most, of our minds.

“These kids really have accepted one game at a time,” Cordonnier said. “Tomorrow we’ll start getting ready for Houston. That’s really what they’re about. Are the kids thinking about it? Maybe, I really am not.”

Even if they are, who can blame them?

“We’re starting to think that way a little bit,” Francis said. “But we’re really just focused on one game at a time right now, that’s it.”

Optimistic for the future, and focused on the present – both can be true.

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Miami, FL

It’s Indiana and Miami in a college-football title matchup that once seemed impossible

Published

5 hours ago

January 10, 2026

Press Room

It’s Indiana and Miami in a college-football title matchup that once seemed impossible

It looked improbable two months ago.

Two years ago — impossible.

But against the odds, Miami and Indiana have a date in the College Football Playoff final — a first-of-its-kind matchup on Jan. 19 in the second national title game of the expanded-playoff era.

The Hoosiers (15-0), the top-seeded favorite in the 12-team tournament, stomped Oregon 56-22 on Friday night to reach the final. The Hurricanes (13-2), seeded 10th and the last at-large team to make the field, beat Mississippi 31-27 the night before.

Indiana opened as a 7 1/2-point favorite, according to the BetMGM Sportsbook.

The game is set for Hard Rock Stadium in South Florida — the long-ago-chosen venue for a game that happens to be the home of the Hurricanes. Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza is a Miami native who grew up less than a mile from the campus in Coral Gables.

“It means a little bit more to me,” Mendoza said of the title game doubling as a homecoming.

Miami quarterback Carson Beck (11) holds the offensive player of the game trophy after winning the Fiesta Bowl NCAA college football playoff semifinal game against Mississippi, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Glendale, Ariz. Credit: AP/Ross D. Franklin

He’ll be going against the program known as “The U.” Miami won five titles between 1983 and 2001 and earned the reputation as college football’s brashest renegade.

A quarter century later, they are one side in a tale of two resurgences.

Miami’s was sparked by coach Mario Cristobal, a local boy and former ‘Cane himself who came back home four years ago to lead his alma mater to a place it hasn’t been in decades.

Among his biggest wins was luring quarterback Carson Beck to spend his final year of eligibility with the ‘Canes.

Miami head coach Mario Cristobal yells from the sideline during... — Miami head coach Mario Cristobal yells from the sideline during the second half of the Fiesta Bowl NCAA college football playoff semifinal game against Mississippi, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Glendale, Ariz. Credit: AP/Rick Scuteri

Beck, steadily rounding back to form after an elbow injury that ended his season at Georgia last year, is getting better every week. He has thrown for 15 TDs and two interceptions over a seven-game winning streak dating to Nov. 8.

“He’s hungry, he’s driven, he’s a great human being, and all he wants to do is to see his teammates have success,” Cristobal said after Beck threw for 268 yards and ran for the winning touchdown against Ole Miss.

It was the latest step in a long climb from No. 18 in the season’s first CFP rankings on Nov. 4 — barely within shouting distance of the bubble — after their second loss of the season.

The Hurricanes haven’t lost since.

Hoosiers rise from nowhere to the edge of a title

Indiana’s climb to the top is an even longer haul. This is the program that had a nation-leading 713 losses over 130-plus years heading into the 2024 season. Since then, only two.

The turnaround is thanks to coach Curt Cignetti, who arrived from James Madison and declared: “It’s pretty simple. I win. Google me,” while explaining his confident tone at a signing day news conference in December 2023 when he landed the core of the class that has taken Indiana from obscurity to the edge of a title.

But Indiana’s biggest catch came about a year ago from the transfer portal — the oxygen that drives the current game.

Mendoza, who went to the same high school as Cristobal in Miami, chose Indiana as the place to finish his career. So far, he has won the Heisman Trophy and is all but assured to be a top-five pick in the NFL draft.

“Can’t say enough about him,” Cignetti said.

One more win and he’ll bring a national title and an undefeated season to Indiana, an even 50 years after the Hoosiers’ 1975-76 basketball team, led by coach Bob Knight, did the same.

Lots of people could see that one coming. Hard to say the same about this.

CFP selection committee almost kept this game from happening

It might seem like ancient history, but Miami almost didn’t make the playoffs.

In its first ranking of the season, back in November, the CFP selection committee ranked the Hurricanes eight spots behind a Notre Dame team they beat to start the season.

The history of Miami’s slow crawl up the standings, then its leapfrogging past the Irish for the last spot, has been well-documented. If Miami’s trip to the final proved anything, it’s how off-base the committee was when it started the ’Canes at 18, even if they were coming off a loss at SMU, its second of the season.

Though these programs haven’t met since the 1960s, there is familiarity.

One of the best games of 2024 was Miami’s comeback from 25 points down to beat Cal. The quarterback for the Bears: Mendoza, who threw for 285 yards but got edged out by Cam Ward in a 39-38 loss.

With Ward headed for the NFL, the Hurricanes were a consideration for Mendoza as he sought a new spot to finish out his college career. But he picked Indiana, Beck moved to Miami, and now, they meet.

Miami cashes in big

The College Football Playoff will distribute $20 million to the Big Ten and Atlantic Coast Conferences for placing their teams in the finals — that’s $4 million for making it, $4 million for getting to the quarters, then $6 million each for the semis and finals.

While the Big Ten divvies up that money evenly between its 18 members, Miami keeps it all for itself — part of a “success initiatives program” the ACC started last season that allows schools to keep all the postseason money they make in football and basketball.

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Miami, FL

Tributes grow as police investigate Hollywood Beach killing

Published

17 hours ago

January 9, 2026

Press Room

Tributes grow as police investigate Hollywood Beach killing

January 9, 2026 / 9:20 PM EST
/ CBS Miami

New details are emerging in the death of a woman whose body was found on Hollywood Beach the day after Christmas.

Police say 56‑year‑old Heather Asendorf was discovered by a passerby. People who frequent the beach say she was a familiar sight at the bandshell near Margaritaville, where she danced most nights in brightly lit shoes.

Harrison, a frequent visitor who did not want to give his last name, said he saw her nearly every day.

“She was very friendly, polite. She loved to dance,” he said.

Suspect arrested four days later

Four days after she was found, Hollywood police arrested 28‑year‑old Brandon McCray and charged him with sexual battery, kidnapping, and battery by strangulation.

McCray was taken into custody at a Hollywood motel off Federal Highway. His permanent address is listed in Coconut Creek, where no one answered the door when approached for comment about his arrest.

Police are still working to determine how Asendorf’s path crossed with McCray’s.

Tributes pour in from friends

Tributes for Asendorf are pouring in, especially from the annual State College Townie Reunion community in central Pennsylvania, where she had deep roots.

Among the messages shared:

“A beautiful friend forever in our hearts.”
“Unforgettable. A sweet soul.”
“I still can’t wrap my mind around this one. She was so amazing.”
“One of our shining stars has left the stage.”

Investigation remains active

Hollywood police say their investigation is ongoing, and McCray could face additional charges as detectives continue to piece together what happened.

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Miami, FL

Ole Miss S Nick Cull’s targeting call reversed vs Miami in Peach Bowl

Published

2 days ago

January 8, 2026

Press Room

Ole Miss S Nick Cull’s targeting call reversed vs Miami in Peach Bowl

Mississippi football’s Nick Cull avoided an ejection during the College Football Playoff Fiesta Bowl semifinal on Thursday, Jan. 8.

As Malachi Toney reeled in a catch from Carson Beck at the Miami 49 in the first quarter, he was hit by Cull in a helmet-to-helmet collision. Right away, the officials flagged Cull for targeting, with both Toney and Cull staying down on the field with an injury.

After officials reviewed the play, the call on the field was overturned, as the officials determined that Cull did not launch and the collision seemed to be incidental. Replay assistant Matt Austin concurred with the call on the field.

The play had a major impact on the game as well. If the call had been upheld, Miami would have had the ball at the Ole Miss 34-yard line with a chance to expand its 3-0 lead. However, a few plays later, the Hurricanes were forced to punt from the 49-yard line.

On the first play of the second quarter, Ole Miss running back Kewan Lacey scored on a 73-yard run to give the Rebels a 7-3 lead.

Because he was not called for targeting, Cull was not ejected from the game, which means Ole Miss will have him for the remainder of the game, if he can clear the concussion protocol. He was in the tent following the play.

Cull has 15 total tackles and three pass deflections this season for the Rebels.

Meanwhile, Toney went to the medical tent briefly for the Hurricanes, but returned to the game.

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