ONTARIO — Ontario is ready to knock on the district championship door again next week at Ashland High School.
Veteran coach Joe Balogh hopes his Warriors can finally make it fly open.
Ontario took a 16-point lead into the fourth quarter against Mansfield Senior in a Division II sectional title game at the O-Rena on Friday night and then grimly survived an ice-cold shooting effort from the foul line, escaping with a 57-53 win.
The second-seeded Warriors (17-5) will play third-seeded Norwalk (16-8) on Wednesday at 7:30 in the district semifinals at Ashland High School. The first game Wednesday matches top-seeded Shelby (18-3) against sixth seed Huron (11-6).
Ontario lost at Norwalk by 12 back on Dec. 5, 58-46.
Balogh, just two wins shy of 600 in his Hall of Fame career, said it will again be a competitive district, the winner of which advances to the regional tournament at Elida.
“We will try to get a little rest over the next couple of days and then just try to get ready to see if we can get out of that district,” Balogh said. “This group has been there and we have had some tough losses there.
“We have been knocking on the door. We’re gonna try to kick the door down a little bit this year,” he said of his team, which has eight seniors on its roster.
LEAD EVAPORATES: Ontario led Mansfield Senior (8-11) 49-33 going into the fourth quarter Friday night.
But a pressing Tygers’ defense and a six-for-14 effort from the foul line in the final eight minutes by the Warriors allowed Mansfield Senior to nearly stage a miraculous comeback.
The Tygers, who went on a 12-1 run to start the fourth quarter, cut the deficit to 53-47 with still 1:59 left on a FG by 6-3 junior Deon Crawford. But Mansfield Senior was not able to draw any closer, despite Ontario missing four of eight FT attempts in the final 1:35.
Balogh said his team used the same spread offense in the final period that worked on Feb. 13 when his Warriors knocked off the Tygers, 65-54.
“To be honest with you, it was effective tonight,” he said. “We just didn’t make free throws. If we did that, it would have been a lot easier. But you know, it’s the tournament and nerves sometimes get to you.
“The good thing is our kids didn’t panic. We kind of stayed the course. We just hung in in there. You know the old saying in tournaments, ‘survive and advance,’ and that’s what we did,” Balogh said.
“From a positive standpoint, we played well so far in two tournament games (including a 49-36 win against Bellevue on Tuesday), but we haven’t played our best,” Balogh said.
DISAPPOINTING FINISH: Mansfield Senior coach Marquis Sykes said the fourth quarter, during which his team outscored the Warriors 20-8, looked like the like of basketball traditionally played by the Tygers.
But during a season filled with COVID-19 obstacles, it was not enough. Mansfield Senior didn’t even play its first game until Dec. 29 due to the pandemic, more than a month after Ontario’s season opener.
The virus wreaked havoc on the team’s schedule and its roster, sometimes playing with as few as six healthy players on a team which had just three seniors.
“The way this year went down, it just didn’t allow us to play that (aggressive) way,” Sykes said. “It’s just been a crazy up-and-down tough year. We just were not able to grow together and build and develop that chemistry that we really needed to have a good, successful season and tournament run.
“It truly sucks to be a senior in high school in 2021, all over the country. It’s just unprecedented time. A lot of things have happened negatively that we will remember forever,” Sykes said.
“So many things happened this season that are out of everybody’s control. But all in all tonight, my guys left everything they had out on the floor and they just came up short,” Sykes said.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING: Senior guard Kolten Kurtz led Ontario with 15 points. Three other Warriors finished in double figures — junior guard Darrian Delbrugge (11), senior guard Griffin Shaver (10) and senior forward Gage Weaver (10).
Three Mansfield Senior players finished with double figures, led by junior forward Maurice Ware’s 13 points. Senior forward Anthony Pearson had 12 and freshman forward Ahmaan Thomas had 10.
Ontario shot 50 percent from the field (21-42), including four of 13 three-point attempts. The Warriors were 11 of 22 (50 percent) from the foul line for the game.
Mansfield Senior shot 42 percent from the field (21-50), including five of 15 triple attempts. The Tygers were six of nine from the foul line.
Mansfield Senior had a 35-24 rebounding edge, led by 12 from Ware. Delbrugge led Ontario with five.
The Tygers committed 13 turnovers, compared to nine for Ontario.
