GALION, Ohio — The Warriors tightened the screws Friday night.
Fourth-seeded Ontario limited No. 3 Vermilion to five points in the third quarter and held on for a 48-44 win in the Division II sectional championship game at Galion High School.
The Sailors (17-6) came in averaging 66.7 points a game and hadn’t scored fewer than 55 points in a game all season.
“We take a lot of pride in our defense,” said Ontario’s 6-foot-7 forward Logan Jones, who had a handful of blocks and altered several other shots. “We work as hard as anybody on the defensive end.
“We knew they liked to get up and down the floor, but we were able to control the tempo.”
Jones gave the Warriors (19-5) a 33-27 lead early in the fourth quarter when he stepped outside and confidently stroked a 3-pointer from the right corner. The rare triple came during a quarter-opening 14-4 run as Ontario built a 43-31 advantage.
“I’ve only made a handful of 3s all year,” Jones said. “I felt confident shooting it and watching it go in was a great moment.”
The Sailors refused to go quietly, however, cutting Ontario’s advantage to 45-41 with 34 seconds remaining. The Warriors did themselves no favors from the free throw line, connecting on 3 of 7 attempts before Trey Jordan iced it with two freebies with 5.9 seconds remaining.
“I looked up at the clock and there were about two minutes left and it felt like it took 15 minutes for that time to run off,” Ontario coach Joe Balogh said. “One of the things they thrive on is their pressure. We turned it over a little bit, but I don’t think we let one turnover turn into two or three.”
Momentum Swing: Vermilion led 17-8 early in the second quarter before the Ontario offense came to life. Jackson Todd scored seven points during an 11-1 Ontario run and gave the Warriors a 19-18 lead with a 3-pointer with 3:25 to play before halftime.
“In the first quarter especially we thought we dribbled the ball too much. We didn’t move it enough” Balogh said. “I thought we got better but it was hard because they are so good on the ball defensively.”
Balanced Attack: Todd led the Warriors with 17 points. Quan Jackson scored 15, including 10 in the fourth quarter, while Jones had nine. Trey Jordan added seven.
Joby Pfeil led Vermilion with 17 points. Scott Gillespie added 14.
Next: Ontario will play Lexington at 6:15 p.m. Wednesday in the district semifinals at Mansfield Senior’s Pete Henry Gym. Lex knocked off Norwalk in Friday’s late game.
Lexington beat Ontario 54-49 in the Richland Source NOL-OCC Challenge in mid-December. The Warriors are 17-1 since then.
