The Warriors face Wayne at 7:45 p.m. Monday at Centerville with a trip to districts on the line. The 6 p.m. game features No. 3 Springboro and No. 18 Springfield, which shocked No. 2 Beavercreek in overtime Tuesday.
“It almost felt like the start of the season all over again playing game number one,” said Lebanon coach Nate Chivington who chose a first-round bye as the No. 10 seed. “It was nice to finally go against the competition we’ve been preparing for, and the guys did amazing job.”
The bye put Lebanon in line to face a red-hot and fifth-seeded Northmont (15-9) team that earned late-season victories over Centerville, Springboro and Alter. Chivington needed a game plan to slow the Thunderbolts and used a zone defense to force them to make 3-pointers. The Warriors let everyone shoot except for leading scorer B.J. Hatcher. It worked in the first half.
“We were a little passive against the zone,” Northmont coach Darnell Hoskins said. “We settled for jump shots early on, whereas the second half, we penetrated and kicked and we got rhythm jump shots.”
When that happened the momentum shifted. Northmont made five 3-pointers in the third quarter to trim their deficit to 45-35. Suddenly the Thunderbolts were hot like Thompson had been hot with three 3-pointers and 13 of his 16 points in the first half. Early in the fourth quarter their scrappy, hounding defense cut Lebanon’s lead to 45-42.
“We were right back where we needed to be,” said Hoskins who added that he wished he had gone to more pressure defense in the first half. “We gave a valiant effort. We just ran out of time.”
Hatcher scored all 12 of his points in the second half. Javen Vaughn scored 12, all on 3-pointers, and Dalin Wilkins scored 11.
Lebanon, behind guards Spence Davidson (18 points) and Trey Hicks (12 points), settled the offense in the fourth quarter and took advantage of Northmont’s aggressiveness with some easy baskets to maintain the lead.
“Both of them did a great job of overcoming a mistake here or there and really settled themselves down,” Chivington said. “It was nice to see our guys not back down on the physicality of the inside play. And then also just making sure that we forced them to play the game that we wanted them to.”
Hoskins returns all but three seniors next year and is already looking forward to another step of growth for the program.
“This group pioneered our culture building,” he said. “You’ve got to sometimes get the right people on the bus. Our roster isn’t the same roster that we started the season with. The group that finished the year were the guys that were committed to establishing a culture and a culture of expectancy. That’s what you saw, especially late in the year.”
Wayne 79, Belmont 42: Nate Martindale’s Wayne team is another one on a late-season role, but the Warriors have yet to be tested in the tournament. They followed up a 65-29 victory over Troy with a runaway win over Belmont.
Wayne (16-8) broke away from a 9-8 lead to a 23-10 lead after one quarter and a 48-19 halftime lead. Less then two minutes into the second half the lead hit 35 and the rest of the game was played with a running clock.
Juan Cranford Jr., the Greater Western Ohio Conference player of the year, led the Warriors with 28 points. Boots Perkins added 16 and Josiah Howard-Morrison and Jay’Sean Price scored 10 apiece.
Like Northmont, Wayne’s second half of the season pushed them up the seedings to No. 4 with wins over Northmont, Beavercreek, Fairmont and Centerville. After being 7-6, Wayne has won 9 of 11.
“The biggest thing for us is trying to be the best version of us, and that’s been our big talk,” Martindale said. “The big thing is being able to get stops defensively, and Juan Cranford Jr. has been really special lately, being able to score the ball, being able to play on both ends of the floor and guarding one through five.”
Martindale was happy to see that kind of performance again against No. 12 Belmont (12-12). Wayne held the Bison, led by guards Da’Marion Calahan and Denzell Ogle, 19 points below their average. Ogle scored 19 points, but Calahan was held to four.
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