GALION, Ohio — Scott Hamilton is a creature of habit and the way Lexington’s coach sees it, a sense of familiarity ought to serve the Minutemen well.
Lex (18-2) earned the No. 1 seed at the Galion sectional/district tournament draw Sunday afternoon and Hamilton employed a slightly unorthodox strategy in placing his team in the 12-team bracket.
Instead of taking a first-round bye, Lex will play a sectional semifinal game against No. 12 seed Clyde (5-12) at 8 p.m. Feb. 23 at Ashland High School.
It’s not unusual for high seeds to pass on the first-round bye, but Hamilton decided to play the late game and he selected the line on the bracket that would make Lexington the visiting team.
It was all part of the plan.
“We wanted to play. We wanted to get on the floor. Our kids are feeling pretty good right now,” Hamilton said of forsaking a first-round bye in favor of playing in the sectional semifinals. “Our February schedule is set up to where we don’t have the double weekends. Some of the teams were looking to take the bye to get a couple (extra) days’ rest.”
The Minutemen could have played at either sectional site, but chose to go to Ashland instead of Willard. Lex is more familiar with Arrow Arena as both schools are members of the Ohio Cardinal Conference. Hamilton wanted to be the visiting team and play in the late game to make the first-round game as much like a regular season trip to Ashland as possible.
“I’m a guy about routines,” Hamilton said. “I like playing the late game because … playing in the second game is like the regular season when you have a junior varsity game before you.”
Any advantage will help in what may be one of the toughest sectional/district brackets in northwest Ohio, if not the state. Nine of the 12 teams in the field have a record of .500 or better and the teams are a combined 40 games over .500 (128-88).
No. 2 seed Ontario (16-3) had to take a spot in the bracket opposite Lexington. The Warriors took a first-round bye and will play either No. 6 Vermilion (11-8) or No. 9 Huron (8-8) at 6:15 p.m. Feb. 26 at Willard. Vermilion and Huron meet at 6:15 p.m. Feb. 23 at Willard.
“This is going to be as competitive of a sectional/district as we have seen in many years,” Ontario coach Joe Balogh said. “There could be any number of teams that could come out of it.
“We took a bye just from the standpoint that we think that the days off will help us. It will give us a chance to prepare.”
No. 3 seed Sandusky (12-3) took the second bye at Willard and will play either No. 11 Bellevue (7-11) or No. 7 Shelby (10-9) at 8 p.m. Feb. 26. Shelby and Bellevue meet at 8 p.m. Feb. 23.
“It was probably one of the most unpredictable draws,” Shelby coach Troy Schwemley said. “There were a lot of questions about who was going to go where.
“I brought three scenarios that I thought could happen and I don’t think any of those worked.”
No. 4 seed Sandusky Perkins (13-5) took the first bye in the Ashland sectional and will play either No. 5 Madison (11-8) or No. 8 Norwalk (9-9) at 6:15 p.m. Feb. 26. The Rams and Truckers will meet for a second time this season at 6:15 p.m. Feb. 23. Madison won the first meeting 56-49 in the Richland Source NOL-OCC Challenge at Lexington on Dec. 30.
“There are a lot of good teams in this field,” Madison coach Tim Mergel said. “It was going to be no easy task no matter who you drew.”
Division I: Mansfield Senior is the lone remaining Division I school in Richland County. The Tygers (11-7) earned the No. 10 seed in the University of Toledo sectional/district and will play No. 14 Toledo Waite at 8 p.m. Feb. 23 at Lakota High School.
For the first time, all 17 remaining Division I schools in northwest Ohio were put into one sectional/district field.
“I don’t like the new set-up, but it is what it is,” Mansfield Senior coach J.T. Reese said. “We will have a long drive and if we win (the sectional semifinals), will have to turn around and drive right back up to (Lakota) a couple days later.”
Division III: Galion (11-8) earned the No. 2 seed at the Norwalk sectional/district and took a first-round bye at the Shelby sectional. The Tigers will play either No. 8 Clear Fork or No. 7 Margaretta at 6:15 p.m. Feb. 26. The Colts (4-13) and Polar Bears (5-13) meet at 7 p.m. Feb. 24 at Shelby.
No. 5 seed Crestview (9-9) will play No. 3 Western Reserve (12-6) in a sectional championship game at 8 p.m. Feb. 26 a Shelby. The Cougars and Rough Riders split two regular season meetings, with Crestview avenging an earlier loss with a 71-68 win last Friday.
Division IV: St. Peter’s (15-3) earned the No. 2 seed at the Willard sectional/district and will play No. 12 Monroeville (3-16) in a sectional semifinal game at 7 p.m. Feb. 23 at Lexington. No. 7 seed Mansfield Christian (11-6) will play No. 6 Wynford (12-6) at 8 p.m. Feb. 24 at Lexington.
No. 13 seed Crestline (1-18) will play top-seeded Sandusky St. Mary (18-1) at 6:15 p.m. Feb. 23 at Sandusky High School. The winner will play No. 11 Lucas (6-10) at 6:15 Feb. 26. No. 10 Plymouth (5-15) will play No. 4 South Central (14-5) at 8 p.m. Feb. 23 at Sandusky.
