Falcons fly by Senecas 67-45

BARBERTON – After Hillsdale grabbed the lead Tuesday night, it didn't give it up.Pair that with dominating the boards, the Falcons outscored Calvert 55-32 in the final three quarters to run away with a 67-45 Division VII regional semifinal win at Barberton."I don't think we did a very good job of controlling our side of the pace and tempo … the running aspect didn't hurt us it was our decision making," Senecas coach Jon Otterbacher said. "The first three or four possessions of the second quarter I think where we had a small lead and then they came out and scored the first eight or so points. We were unable to recover."We were trying to get them into different things defensively to get us in a better groove, but we couldn't get out of our own way half the time."From the tip, Hillsdale (19-7) upped the tempo with a good transition game. Calvert (17-8) stayed with the Falcons in the opening eight minutes, working the ball around on offense and getting the ball inside as Vincenzo Lyons tallied six points in the period.Calvert led 13-12 after the first stop.But then the Falcons took flight.Hillsdale jumped on the Senecas with a 12-2 run to begin the second quarter to gain a 24-15 advantage. After it grabbed the lead, Calvert did its best to get back in the game, but without getting any key rebound after a defensive stop or a key outside shot to go offensively, the Senecas traded baskets much of the rest of the way."I figured if we could play defense, rebound and let our defense turn into offense … that's our game," Falcons coach Ben Ferguson said. "We're a good transition team. We have great athletes, great ball players and I figured if we could set the tempo then we'd be in pretty good shape."We rebounded really well, all season really. When we rebound well and get into transition, we typically do really well."A few times the Senecas cut the Falcons' lead to seven or eight out of the half, but Hillsdale would just respond with a bucket of its own – Calvert couldn't get a serious run going.Hillsdale led 49-39 after three and then outscored Calvert 18-6 in the final quarter to run away with it."We would get it back to a single-digit lead and we would need a stop, but they'd either get the rebound or they'd tip it away from us and get a score. We couldn't get anything consistently going. Our shot selection when we were trying to get back in it wasn't great. We took three wild 3s on a fastbreak, instead of getting to the basket."Hillsdale had four scorers in double figures as Knox Lewis and Lowen Ferguson each had 17 points, while Kael Lewis added 16 and Hayden McFadden finished with 11.Lyons led Calvert with 12 points and 10 rebounds, followed by Grady Otterbacher with 11 points and four assists. Logan DeMoss and Logan Ritzler each finished their careers with seven points Tuesday. Max Herbert finished with six points.A district title and a trip to regionals wasn't always on the mind of the Senecas after a slow start to the season and some lows during the middle of the campaign. But something clicked and the Senecas made a run back to regionals, which was the first time since 2022."Middle of the season we were at a crossroads really," Coach Otterbacher said. "We lost some games we shouldn't have, so we challenged them. Over the last three or four weeks, the kids did an excellent job of focusing on the process."The seniors are incredible people, not just players. Max is an undersized post, so we told him if he wanted to play he would have to play in the post and he took that and ran with it. Logan DeMoss is just a true athlete. He's such a competitor and get always gave it 110% at all times. Logan Ritzler was our leading scorer all season … played exceptional basketball for 25 games. Those three guys combined will be tough to replace and we'll miss them a lot." Hillsdale 67, Calvert 45Hillsdale (19-7): Troy Bennett 3-0-7; Porter Boreman 0-0-0; Knox Lewis 8-1-17; Hayden McFadden 5-0-11; Lowen Ferguson 4-6-17; Kael Lewis 7-1-16; Jake Haven 0-0-0. Totals: 27-8-67.Calvert (17-8): Grady Otterbacher 4-1-11; Logan Ritzler 3-0-7; Emman Moreno 0-2-2; Max Herbert 3-0-6; Tucker Coleman 0-0-0; Logan DeMoss 3-0-7; Vincenzo Lyons 6-0-12. Totals: 19-3-45.Hillsdale&emsp;&emsp;12&emsp;&emsp;20&emsp;&emsp;17&emsp;&emsp;18&emsp;&emsp;– 67Calvert&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;13&emsp;&emsp;10&emsp;&emsp;16&emsp;&emsp;6&emsp;&emsp;– 453-point goals: Hillsdale 5 (Ferguson 3, Bennett, McFadden); Calvert 4 (Otterbacher 2, Ritzler, DeMoss)Foul shots: Hillsdale 8-13; Calvert 3-5Turnovers: Hillsdale 8; Calvert 10