Hillsdale pounds St. John to reach 1st district title game since 2001

JEROMESVILLE – The Falcons made it look way too easy.

After going nearly a quarter of a century without playing in a district championship game, the Hillsdale boys basketball team finally clinched a spot in one Wednesday night with a methodical dissection of Ashtabula St. John in the Division VII district semifinal.

The third-seeded Falcons were a fastbreak sight to behold, sharing the ball with snappy passing early and often in an eventual 72-46 beating of the 11th-seeded Heralds at Steve Dickerson Gymnasium.

“We talked about (the district finals drought) all week,” second-year Hillsdale head coach Ben Ferguson said. “I didn’t know it had been 24 years, but I knew it had been a long time.

“We had really balanced scoring and we passed the ball better than we have all season tonight,” he said. “I feel like we’re peaking at the right time.”

Hillsdale (18-6) had four double-digit scorers before the end of the third quarter and displayed plenty of defensive tenacity as well, holding the Heralds nearly 20 points below their season average (64 points per game).

In the process, the Falcons moved to 16-0 when limiting teams to 55 or fewer points.

The dominant performance sends Hillsdale into a district final Saturday night at Smithville against fourth-seeded Columbiana Heartland Christian (18-5), which was a 69-66 winner Wednesday over seventh-seeded Fairport Harding (18-6).

“I felt we were evenly matched (coming in); they’re just like some of the teams we play in our conference,” ninth-year St. John head coach Curtis Turner said of the Falcons. “We watched so much film on them and we thought we had them pegged, but they came out on fire.

“They run their system wonderfully and we just ran up against a juggernaut.”

The Heralds (14-10), who collected double-digit wins for the first time in eight years, entered the night with a pair of 1,000-point scorers in senior guards Dyln Newsome and Vin Narducci.

Each had a 40-point game in their respective careers, and both are next-level shooters from the perimeter. Newsome set a new school record with 10 made 3s in a game this season.

The two combined for 32 points Wednesday, but 11 came in the fourth quarter after the game had long since been decided. Narducci (19 points, 7 rebounds) hit a pair of 3s while Newsome (13 points) had none.

“We didn’t want to let them shoot, didn’t want to let them get downhill,” said Hillsdale junior guard Troy Bennett (team-high 17 points). “I think we did pretty well.”

The Falcons didn’t wait to set the tone of the game.

After Newsome made a quick layup for a 2-0 advantage, Hillsdale put together its first of two early 8-0 runs. Freshman Lowen Ferguson had eight points inside the game’s first four minutes, knocking down a variety of floaters in the lane.

The Falcons point guard finished with a double-double (13 points, 10 assists, 5 rebounds), posting his fourth game this season with double-digit assists.

St. John tried to pry its way back into things in the second quarter, cutting its deficit to 24-16 following another layup from Newsome with 5:42 showing.

But Hillsdale was having none of it, answering with 3-pointers from Kael Lewis (14 points) in the right corner and Bennett in the left corner on back-to-back possessions.

Narducci made it 30-18 after that, but the Heralds went without a field goal for the final four minutes of the first half.

That scoring lull allowed the Falcons to finish the half on a 17-4 run that gave them a gaping 41-20 bulge at intermission. Ferguson buried a 3-pointer from the top of the perimeter to cap the first-half scoring with five seconds left.

“We were trying to cut the lead down and we needed a chance to breathe,” Turner said. “But once we got the chance to breathe (at 24-16), they went right back at it.”

Hillsdale 6-foot-7 post Bradey Krichbaum dropped in eight of his 16 points in the third quarter while helping limit the St. John effort inside the paint. The senior had eight boards and three blocks while guiding the Falcons to a massive 34-16 advantage on the glass.

Offensive rebounds were almost non-existent for the Heralds, as Hillsdale’s Knox Lewis (eight points) and Hayden McFadden both pulled down seven rebounds.

“When I don’t have to stress about rebounding because I know my guys are going to rebound, that takes a lot of the pressure off,” Krichbaum said.

Turner said Krichbaum might have had the best footwork of any post player St. John faced all season.

The senior entered Wednesday leading the Falcons in both points (15) and rebounds (11) per game. The tournament win came in the final home game for him and classmates Holland Young and Dylan Fickes.

“(Playing at home for the last time) felt odd at first, but honestly, I feel like I play better on the road,” Krichbaum said with a laugh, “so I’m not even that upset about it.”

St. John finished with just four scorers in the game and didn’t get within 20 points of Hillsdale in the fourth quarter.

It was the Heralds’ third-worst margin of defeat this season.

Coach Ferguson felt it was a great way to set up his squad’s district final Saturday.

It marked the second straight season Hillsdale finished 10-3 at home and also is likely the first time in program history the Falcons have won at least 18 games in back-to-back years.

Now, the team will play for a shot at the Sweet 16 for the first time since the unforgettable 2001 Hillsdale squad (23-1). Those Falcons – coached by the Lewis boys’ grandfather, Dave Honaker – lost to LeBron James and St. Vincent-St. Mary in the regional semifinals.

Bennett said he feels this year’s Falcons have learned a lot from last year’s 18-7 resurgent season, adding that this version offers more balance and better teamwork.

Hillsdale will need plenty of it Saturday against Heartland Christian, which is 12-1 since Jan. 11 and averages nearly 70 points per game.

“We set the culture last year and we’ve just been a stickler about it,” coach Ferguson said. “Our shirts last year said, ‘Everything matters.’ And this year, they say, ‘Everything still matters.’

“It’s all about building a tradition.”