WILLARD — Seneca East surprised many preseason prognosticators by sharing the Northern 10 Athletic Conference title.
The Tigers’ postseason success is no surprise.
Lucas built a 21-14 first-quarter lead. But Seneca East used a 20-5 advantage in the second quarter to take a 34-26 lead at halftime and never looked back en route to a 76-66 win in the Division IV district semifinal at Robert Haas Gymnasium.
The Tigers will play for a district championship on Friday at 6 p.m. The opponent will be Colonel Crawford, a 63-59 winner over Mansfield Christian in the other semifinal.
Even though Seneca East (20-5) didn’t trail in the second half, the Cubs stayed close, so that Tigers’ coach Anthony Langhurst was never comfortable.
“Because of their defense,” Langhurst said. “We knew they can turn you over and they’ve got just enough explosiveness. They’re going to take high percentage shots. They’re not going to take bad shots.”
Lucas (17-6) did just as Langhurst described in the first period. The Cubs’ defense forced five Tigers’ turnovers and Lucas hit eight of 14 shots in going out to its seven-point first quarter lead.
After falling behind, 23-14, on two free throws by Lucas’ Keaton Day, Seneca East went on a 20-3 run to halftime to forge a 34-26 lead at intermission.
“We’ve kind of done that a lot this year. We come out and play well. We get a little tired and then lose focus on defense,” Lucas coach Taylor Iceman said. “They had a big quarter. We probably played fairly even the rest of the way. But when you get yourself in a hole like that, you can’t come back from that at this juncture.”
Seven Tigers scored in the pivotal second quarter, demonstrating their balance, especially with leading scorer Lucas Bordner spending much of the period on the bench with three fouls.
“It helps to have good guard play and smart guys,” Langhurst said. “I feel good if we have an opportunity to expand on a lead. If a team is really stressing you, we’ve got really good guards.”
Bordner finished with 13 points despite the early foul trouble and point guard Luke Mason added 15.
In the second half, it was just a matter of keeping the Cubs at arm’s length. After falling behind 40-28 on a basket by Mason, Lucas chipped away at the deficit. The Cubs got as close as 47-42 late in the frame on a basket by Logan Toms and trailed 49-42 by period’s end.
Iceman cited the Tigers’ 1-3-1 as a factor.
“It’s not a traditional 1-3-1. We’ve seen everything this year. Essentially, it’s the same kind of deal,” Iceman said. “They’re going to pack the paint and try and keep you out of there. It’s not a traditional 1-3-1, so you can’t do a lot of the things you would normally do against a 1-3-1, but it’s a zone, so you can’t run a lot of your offensive set. It forces you to change what you do.
“Early, we made some jump shots, and it gave us the lead, and we quit making jump shots” he added. “Against a zone, especially when they pack it in like that, you’ve got to be able to make some jump shots to try to bring them out and get to the rim.”
Seneca East got it’s largest lead at 60-46 with 4:15 left in the game on a backet by Aidan Hines. The Cubs again whittled it to six three times in the final four minutes but could get no closer.
The Tigers held off Lucas on the strength of hitting 15 of 18 free throws in the fourth quarter in the face of the Cubs connecting on 10 of 12.
“We don’t just line up and shoot free throws every day,” Langhurst said. “It’s a competition. Guys are competing and guys take it seriously. It’s just that type of group. They’re serious. They have fun when they need to, but when it’s time to prepare for the game, we lock in.”
Toms led four double-digit Lucas scorers with a game-high 24 points. Aidan Culler added 17, Zach Diehl and Gabe Porter had 10 each. Toms and Culler had six rebounds each.
“We weren’t going to shoot it well all night,” Iceman said. “I’m glad we shot it well at least a portion of the night. That gave us a chance. When you’re not shooting it, you’ve got to sustain it on the defensive end that much more. We chose a bad time to do both — not shoot it and not play great defense.”
Iceman found it difficult to say goodbye to his six seniors — Toms, Culler, Diehl, Porter, Day, and Greysen Jackson.
Blake Foos topped the Tigers with 20 points to go with Mason’s 15 and Bordner’s 13. Hines also had 13 and Lucas Hicks had eight points and eight boards. Seneca East had a 35-22 edge on the glass.
“They’ve won 20 games now,” Iceman said of the Tigers. “They’re pretty good at what they do. We didn’t handle it for four quarters tonight and that cost us.”
“It all comes down to rebounding, passing,” Langhurst said. “We stress that every single day. It’s not very sexy, but we have these passing drills we do every day. It might not look like it at times against a team like Lucas, but it comes in when you have to hit free throws and make those kinds of passes.”
The reward for the win is a third match with N10 foe Colonel Crawford.
“I feel like their guys have gotten bigger since the last time we saw them,” Langhurst joked. “That (the Colonel Crawford-Mansfield Christian game) was a great game. (Colonel Crawford) kind of got punched in the mouth early and then just kind of played great basketball. If you enjoy good basketball, it was nice to see. The N10 was represented well tonight.
“I know our guys are looking forward to it,” Langhurst added. “I know Crawford is going to look forward to it. It should be a pretty great atmosphere and a good basketball game on both sides.”
Box score
Seneca East 76, Lucas 66
Lucas 21 5 16 24 — 66
Seneca East 14 20 15 27 — 76
Lucas (17-6): Shots 21-52; 3-pt. shots 6-26 (Aidan Culler 2, Gabe Porter 2, Logan Toms, Zach Diehl); Free throws 18-25; Rebounds 22 (Logan Toms 6, Aidan Culler 6); Turnovers 17. Scoring: Bobby Grover 0 3 3, Logan Toms 8 7 24, Zach Diehl 3 3 10, Aidan Culler 6 3 17, Gabe Porter 4 0 10, Keaton Day 0 2 2.
Seneca East (20-5): Shots 25-45; 3-pt. shots 3-10 (Luke Mason, Lucas Bordner, Blake Foos); Free throws 23-29; Rebounds 35 (Lucas Hicks 8); Turnovers 22. Scoring: Aidan Hines 6 1 13, Luke Mason 4 6 15, Caden Fritz 1 1 3, Lucas Bordner 3 6 13, Blake Foos 7 5 20, Lucas Hicks 2 4 8, Keeno Ruffing 2 0 4.