JEROMESVILLE — Hillsdale would love nothing more than to be a killjoy.
The Falcons have inspired plenty of happiness within their community and the Ashland County area this school year, with a historic run to a football state championship game and now a spot in their first Sweet 16 since 2001.
But at 6 p.m. Tuesday in a Division VII, Region 25 semifinal at Barberton High School, Hillsdale (19-6) takes on Willoughby Cornerstone Christian (18-8) and Ohio’s brand-new career scoring leader Quinn Kwasniak.
The 6-foot-2 senior guard hit 11 3-pointers and scored 51 points Saturday in the Patriots’ 84-44 bulldozing of Berlin Center Western Reserve. An Army commit, his 3,210 career points are two better than the former record set in 2007 by Upper Sandusky’s Jon Diebler, who went on to star at Ohio State.
Kwasniak is the talk of the state right now, and for good reason.
He’s also got Ohio’s record for single-season 3-pointers (163) and career 3-pointers (552) and, through his first 19 games, was No. 4 in the nation in scoring average (37.9 ppg, per MaxPreps).
But Hillsdale — with hopes of reaching the Elite Eight for just the second time in school history and first time since 1990 — doesn’t have time to admire Kwasniak or his accomplishments.
Second-year Falcons head coach Ben Ferguson knows any letup in his team’s defensive approach Tuesday could cost them their season.
“Kwasniak is open when he gets off the bus; when he steps off the school bus, that dude can hit a shot,” Ferguson said. “You don’t get the Ohio state record by not having an abnormal talent of putting the ball in the hoop. Clearly, he’s on our mind.
“When you have a prolific scorer like he is, I don’t know that any lead is safe. We have to play from jump ball to the final whistle, regardless of what the score is — as hard as you can go.”
The Patriots are a tournament-tested squad, too. Entering this season, they made three straight district title games (and a regional semifinal), only to lose every year to eventual Division IV state champ Richmond Heights (now in Division VI).
Kwasniak’s father, Babe Kwasniak, has stacked his own share of success through the decades, too. He led his alma mater, Villa Angela-St. Joseph, to five straight state title game appearances and three championships between 2013 and 2017. He won three state championships as a player there as well (under his father, Tedd Kwasniak).
If all of this eye-catching, regional semifinal hoopla sounds familiar to Hillsdale fans, that’s because it is.
In an ironic twist, the last time the Falcons made the Sweet 16 was 2001, when they were a perfect 23-0 before losing 78-56 to sophomore LeBron James and powerhouse Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary.
Ferguson said he’s seen Kwasniak play in six different games — four on film, two in person.
“I’ve had like 15 people ask me, ‘What’s our plan on shutting him down?’ We have no plans on shutting him down. That hasn’t even crossed my mind,” he said. “It’s more so about containing him to the point where he doesn’t beat us single-handedly.
“You have to force their other guys to beat you. What is often missed is he does have a cast of characters around him that are pretty good ballplayers.”
Through 19 games, Kwasniak led Cornerstone Christian in per-game scoring (37.9), assists (7.6) and steals (2.1). The only person he trailed in rebounding (9.1 per game) was 6-fooot-5 junior post Darrien Davis (12.4 ppg, 9.3 rpg, 3.3 apg), a Northeast Lakes first-teamer.
Sophomore guard Hudson Funk (9.9 ppg, 3.2 apg) also has been a key scorer for a Patriots squad averaging 74.9 points per game.
But unlike when Hillsdale faced LeBron and company, Tuesday’s matchup doesn’t seem like David vs. Goliath.
Cornerstone Christian has eight losses, and three of its wins have come by just one shot. One of those was a 78-77 victory Jan. 25 at Dalton, with Kwasniak scoring 38 points.
The Falcons beat the Bulldogs twice in a four-day span, 50-45 on the road and 51-37 at home. Both of those wins factor into Hillsdale’s 17-0 record this season when holding teams to 55 points or fewer.
Ferguson said he’s not counting on his Falcons to limit the Patriots’ offense to a total like that, but he knows if they’re going to win, it will start with defense.
“Our game is defense and rebounding,” he said. “That’s what we have been consistent at all year long.
“At this point, you play hard or you go home.”
There is no doubt Hillsdale is hitting its stride. The Falcons steamrolled their way to tournament wins over Lordstown (60-24), Ashtabula St. John (73-46) and Heartland Christian (73-54), outrebounding each of them by roughly 20.
They are 13-3 since Jan. 14, with their only losses in that stretch coming to three teams with at least 21 wins apiece (Mohawk and regional qualifiers Norwayne and Smithville).
In their district final win Saturday over Heartland Christian — a team that tied its program record with 18 victories — the Falcons got one of the biggest games in the paint in their history from 6-6 post Bradey Krichbaum.
The senior totaled 26 points and an HHS single-game record 26 rebounds, also adding four blocks to the mix against undersized Heartland. He will have roughly 600 rebounds combined in his junior and senior seasons
“I love Bradey, he’s such a dream to coach,” said Ferguson of his senior, who is the main reason Hillsdale has been outrebounded just twice all season.
“He is such a smart, tough kid.”
Ferguson said he was inundated with more than 100 text messages within minutes of Saturday’s game ending. The 1995 Hillsdale graduate is now 37-13 through 50 games leading the Falcons and he knows very well the weight a district title carries for the program.
Tuesday’s contest will mark just the second time Hillsdale has ever played 26 games in a season.
The only other was the 1989-90 squad that went 10-10 in the regular season, then ripped off a run to the program’s only trip to the Elite Eight with five wins before a 71-61 loss to St. Peter’s in the regional final.
“If we were talking about St. Ignatius, Richmond Heights, JFK — one of these teams that has been there several times (in recent years) — that’s different,” Ferguson said. “But we’re talking about Hillsdale, so this is a big deal. It’s really cool for the community.”
Heartland was averaging nearly 70 points per game entering Saturday, but the Falcons held the Lions to just 1-of-18 shooting to start the second half and won comfortably.
Junior guards Hayden McFadden (18 points) and Troy Bennett (11) helped add to the runaway, while freshman point guard Lowen Ferguson had eight rebounds and posted his sixth game with 10 or more assists.
Hillsdale has had six different players lead the way in scoring in a game this season, a rare balance for a small-school team. Senior Holland Young and sophomore Kael Lewis join Krichbaum, McFadden, Bennett and Ferguson in that group.
Last season, when the Falcons broke out for an 18-7 campaign, they needed Krichbaum, Bennett or graduated 1,000-point scorer Braylen Jarvis to put up points or they were in trouble.
“Our points are more balanced and everyone’s scoring, not just the three main people like it was last year,” Bennett said after the win over St. John. “The team this year is better than last year (because of that).”
“The more we’re able as a team to have less of an emphasis on one guy scoring 17 or 18 points, the better off we are,” coach Ferguson said.
In Division VII, MaxPreps has Cornerstone Christian ranked No. 7 and Hillsdale at No. 15. The winner of that game will face the winner of Tuesday’s late game at Barberton between Warren John F. Kennedy (16-9, ranked 17th) and St. Paul (20-5, ranked 25th).
St. Paul claimed the Firelands Conference title and is riding a 14-game win streak.
Warren JFK, meanwhile, returns plenty of talent from the team that eliminated Hillsdale in the district semifinals last season, 81-49.
“At this level of of the tournament, the coaching gets a little more serious and they’re putting the time in, they’re watching a lot more film,” Ferguson said. “We’re going to have to be at our absolute best.”
Hillsdale is first Ashland-area boys team to reach the regional tournament since Loudonville went to back-to-back Final Fours in 2004 and 2005.
WCAL shining bright
Impressively, Hillsdale’s run to the regionals is just part of the story for the Wayne County Athletic League.
With this year’s divisional expansion from four divisions to seven in basketball, more teams are getting more opportunities, and the WCAL is proving why it is one of the best small-school conferences in Ohio.
Half of the league’s teams will play this week in the Sweet 16.
Dalton (15-10) and Smithville (22-3) could meet in the Division VI, Region 21 title game Friday at the Canton Memorial Fieldhouse.
The Bulldogs take on Campbell Memorial (21-4) in the early game there Tuesday while the Smithies get Kirtland (17-8) in the nightcap.
Dalton’s lone trips to the Final Four came in 1995 and 1996. Smithville has never advanced out of a regional tournament.
WCAL-champion Norwayne (23-2), meanwhile, is in the Division V, Region 17 semifinals Wednesday in Canton against perennial powerhouse Lutheran East (21-4). Like Smithville, the Bobcats have never reached the state Final Four.
