JEROMESVILLE – Kael Lewis and the Hillsdale boys basketball team are playing angry.
Following a regular season that was hampered nearly start-to-finish by illness and injury, the Falcons have settled into the team they felt like they could be all along.
The latest victim of Hillsdale’s recent winning onslaught was Cortland Maplewood in a Division VII district semifinal Monday night inside Steve Dickerson Gymnasium.
Lewis was a bulldozer all game long, scoring a physical 32 points and pulling down 17 rebounds to steer the Falcons past the Rockets, 60-42.
It was the seventh win in a row for fifth-seeded Hillsdale (17-7). That roll is tied for the longest streak for the program since at least 2011-12.
It also sends the Falcons into Saturday’s 7 p.m. district championship game at Mineral Ridge against top-seeded McDonald (23-1).
(Photos by Doug Haidet. Story continues below the gallery)
“A few games ago was our first game with all of our starters back,” said Lewis, a 6-foot-3 junior wing, “so we’ve been able to put a lot more stuff in at practice and we’re starting to peak at the right time.”
Things looked like they might come easy Monday for the Falcons. They blew out to a 20-4 lead on the 11th-seeded Rockets (16-8) after the game’s opening six minutes behind 14 points from Lewis.
Hillsdale forced eight turnovers in that stretch and was running its uptempo offense with precision.
Maplewood was riding its own seven-game win streak and hadn’t lost since January, picking up a share of its first Northeastern Athletic Conference division title in roughly 10 years.
But the visitors trailed 25-11 through one quarter after Hillsdale sophomore guard Lowen Ferguson hit a 3-pointer off an assist from senior wing Hayden McFadden.
“We dug ourselves a hole to start and I kind of had an inkling that might be the case,” fourth-year MHS head coach Marty Urchek Jr. said. “A two-hour bus ride here and then playing a good team. … They jumped right on us.
“They pushed the ball and they’ve got athletes all over the place, so they were able to take advantage of that.”
But the Rockets pried their way back into things.
Hillsdale started the second quarter settling for 3-point shots while Maplewood began to slow the pace and set up in its offense.
Junior guard Ethan Nevinski scored eight of his team-high 18 points during a 12-1 run that cut the Falcons’ advantage to 26-23.
Even though senior Troy Bennett hit a 3-pointer to slow that spurt for Hillsdale, the Rockets were within 31-28 when junior Steve Manes beat the halftime buzzer with a triple from the top of the arc.
“I think we got complacent in the second quarter, just the energy level,” Falcons head coach Ben Ferguson said. “I thought we’d be able to sustain the lead, but we just stopped running our offense.”
The start of the second half brought a reset for Hillsdale, however.
After junior David Kern (14 points, 6 rebounds) pulled Maplewood within 31-30, Lewis settled back into his dominance inside.
The junior scored on a couple of quick assists from his twin brother, Knox Lewis (6 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists), and finished the third period with 11 more points.
Kael Lewis entered the night averaging 16.4 points and 9.7 rebounds per game. He also was just a few weeks removed from breaking Ryan Bee’s school record of 42 points in a game (44 against Mansfield St. Peters on Feb. 14).
“He was physical with the rebounds,” Urchek Jr. said, “and the way he would slash to the ball – his teammates did a good job of finding when he was getting behind our defenders.”
“Kael had a tremendous night,” Ferguson added. “He is a heck of an athlete; he’s strong, he’s highly competitive and he’s everything you would want to coach.”
Lewis and Hillsdale ended the third quarter on a 17-3 burst that erased everything Maplewood had put together in the second frame, and the visiting Rockets managed just 14 points from only two scorers after halftime.
“I was proud of how my guys weathered the storm to keep it close there at the half,” Urchek Jr. said. “But those are the top athletes we’ve seen for sure. Just vertical-wise and strength – they have a different kind of strength that we don’t really see a whole lot of.”
The Falcons owned the glass, 37-26, also getting seven rebounds from McFadden (five assists), and Lowen Ferguson chipped in nine points and five assists.
Hillsdale kept its breakneck offensive style going until Knox Lewis dropped in a putback with 5:03 left that made the score 56-39.
After a timeout, coach Ferguson could be heard telling his team, “Eeeeasy,” asking the Falcons to slow the pace on offense and ride out the win.
It almost seemed like he was trying to take a steak away from a pack of wolves.
Ferguson’s squad has been bitter since missing out on a chance to nab its first Wayne County Athletic League title since 2011.
Despite capturing their most conference wins in 14 years (10-4), the Falcons finished third in the league for the third consecutive season.
They were without two starters in a pair of tight losses to Waynedale (54-52 and 55-51), and also dropped a 68-66 overtime game at home early on to WCAL-champion Smithville (19-5, 12-2).
For the past few weeks, it seems Hillsdale has been taking out its frustrations on its opponents.
This marked the third consecutive postseason – all under Ferguson (54-21 in 75 games) – that the Falcons have won at least two tournament games.
“We’ve had so much illness and injury, there were a lot of times this season where I’d show up to practice and there’s just guys not there,” the coach said. “It’s been very frustrating.”
Now, Hillsdale returns to a second straight district championship game for possibly the first time in program history.
Waiting for the Falcons after a two-hour drive to Mineral Ridge on Saturday will be McDonald, a squad that didn’t lose a game until its regular-season finale.
The Blue Devils are ranked 18th in Division VII by MaxPreps. They also feature a roster with some of the same football players that met Hillsdale in last fall’s Division VII state semifinals – a 41-14 rout by the Falcons.
“We’ll have some football players on both sides,” said Kael Lewis, Hillsdale’s All-Ohio quarterback. “We know it’s gonna be physical and we’re gonna give them our best game for sure.”
McDonald has a pair of solid senior forwards in Joey Cappuzzello (15.3 ppg, 7.2 rpg) and Drew Zajack (13.9 ppg, 7.7 rpg), and the Blue Devils have outscored teams by an average of 64-42 this winter.
But Ferguson feels the WCAL and a strong non-conference schedule have prepared his squad for any team it might face along the tournament trail this March.
Most of these Falcons were part of the program’s first district championship in 24 years a season ago, and they finally seem to be in a groove.
“Once we realized that it was mathematically impossible for us to win the league, the postseason is what we were circling,” Ferguson said. “We mapped out the tournament probably a full month ago, and even though it didn’t all turn out the way we thought, I did say that we wanted McDonald.
“I thought I could lean into the (football rematch aspect), but I think the boys are just more focused on, ‘Hey, it’s our time – we think we’re good enough to make a state run.’
“They really believe it and I believe it. … This year we feel like we can play with anybody.”