MANSFIELD, Ohio — Considering the frequency of their regular-season meetings over the years, playoff showdowns between backyard rivals Ontario and Lexington have been exceedingly rare.
The fourth-seeded Warriors and No. 2 Minutemen will renew hostilities at 6:15 p.m. Wednesday in the Division II district semifinals at Pete Henry Gym. The teams last met in the tournament in 2014 with Lex upsetting Ontario 56-49 in the sectional finals at Bucyrus High School. The teams played in the sectional semifinals in back-to-back years in 2006 and 2007, splitting the games at Pete Henry Gym.
Ontario (19-5) and Lex (16-7) played in the showcase game of the Richland Source NOL-OCC Challenge in mid-December. The Minutemen won 54-49, but the teams have trended in opposite directions since then.
The loss in December was Ontario’s fourth in a row, the first time the Warriors had lost four straight since the 1998-99 season. Since then, Ontario is 17-1 and is coming off a a 48-44 win over No. 3 Vermilion in the sectional finals.
“I think we’ve gotten a little better every time we’ve played,” Ontario coach Joe Balogh said. “We’ve changed, but they’ve changed also.”
Lex started the season 8-0 and was 11-1 at the midway point, but staggered to the finish line. The Minutemen are 5-6 since mid-January and lost four straight late in the regular season, Lex’s first four-game slide since dropping six in a row during the 2006-07 season.
Lex bounced back with a 49-41 win over Norwalk in last week’s sectional championship game.
“I’m just happy to get out of this gym with a win,” Lex coach Scott Hamilton said afterward. “We haven’t even thought about (Ontario) yet.”
Lex lost three starters off last year’s district championship team, including All-Ohioan Joey Zahn. Only four of last year’s regulars, starters A.J. Nickoli and Cade Stover and rotation players Dana Shoulders and Traevin Harrison, returned.
“We expected to be back here,” said Nickoli, who scored a team-high 14 points in the win over Norwalk. “In the summer we were playing well at our team camps and shootouts.
“Things were kind of coming together then toward the end (of the regular season) we had a rough patch.”
A senior shooting guard, Nickoli has dealt with a nagging foot injury all season.
“He’s now finally starting to get healthy,” Hamilton said.
The ultra-athletic Stover has averaged a double-double this season. He scored 12 points and grabbed eight rebounds against Norwalk.
“With all the attention that Stover sees inside, we know we have to have some other guys step up.”
Ontario boasts a veteran lineup featuring seniors Trey Jordan, Quan Jackson, Jackson Todd and Owen Zeiter. Seniors Alex Schiffer and Robert Milner come off the bench. The lone starting underclassman is 6-foot-7 junior Logan Jones, whose 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter came during Ontario’s 14-4 run to open the period.
“It feels great to win a sectional championship, but we’re not satisfied yet,” Jones said. “We have been playing well recently and we want to keep this going.”
