ONTARIO — Cardae Brown and his classmates learned from last year’s growing pains.
Ontario’s super sophomores are the ones inflicting pain this winter.
The Warriors are 12-1 and in the hunt for a Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference crown thanks in no small part to a wildly talented sophomore class that includes Brown, Trindon Flenoury and Trey Remy.
The trio averages a combined 48.6 points and 11.2 rebounds per game.
All three were regulars as freshmen. Ontario was 7-16 last winter and tied for fourth in the MOAC standings, a distant eight games behind conference champ River Valley.
So what has been the secret to Ontario’s turnaround?
“We have a style of play, a brand of basketball that we try to instill in these kids and the main thing is confidence and aggressiveness,” said third-year coach Jerry Moton, who starred at Mansfield Senior in the 1990s before playing professionally in Europe.
“I think you’re seeing growth from the kids who are now sophomores and juniors. They grew tremendously from last year.”
Eight of Ontario’s 16 losses last year were by three possessions or less and five were by one possession or less, including a 40-38 sectional semifinal loss to Clear Fork.
“Nobody liked the season we had last year … but honestly I felt like there were eight games we could have won,” Moton said. “I think it was necessary to get to the point where we are now.”
It helps to have the high-scoring Brown and Flenoury, arguably the top scoring backcourt tandem in north central Ohio.
The 6-foot-3 Brown averages 22.3 points a game and dropped 32 — one off his career high — in Saturday’s 68-38 win over Madison.
“We’re definitely playing as a team and working hard,” Brown said of Ontario’s revival. “We’re taking practice a lot more seriously, that’s been the key.”
A 6-foot-1 guard, Flenoury averages 18.7 points a game. He scored 32 in Friday’s 63-57 loss to River Valley.
“The River Valley game was a tough game, but we’ll learn from it,” Moton said. “We got exposed in some areas.”
While Brown and Flenoury do a bulk of the scoring, Remy provides the muscle underneath the basket. The rugged 6-foot-6 senior averages 7.6 points and 4.5 rebounds a game.
“It was hard coming in as freshmen, but I think we adapted very quickly as a group,” Brown said. “We’ve all grown up and matured since last year.
“It was good for us to go through what we went through last year. It helped us prepare for this year.”
Ontario hasn’t finished with a winning record since 2023, Tim Mergel’s final season on the sidelines. The Warriors haven’t won a sectional championship since 2021, legendary coach Joe Balogh’s final year.
“Our goals are to win a conference championship and win a district championship,” Brown said. “We’ve just got to keep playing hard and working as a team.”