MINERAL RIDGE — Hillsdale is headed back to the Sweet 16.
Lowen Ferguson connected on six 3-pointers and scored 30 points as the fifth-seeded Falcons held off top-seeded McDonald 80-70 in a district championship doozy on Saturday at Mineral Ridge High School.
The Blue Devils (23-2) trailed 60-38 through the third quarter, but got within seven in the fourth before Hillsdale (18-7) closed the door with some key free throws.
The victory sends the Falcons back to Barberton High School for the regional tournament for a second straight season. They will match up 8 p.m. Tuesday against Tiffin Calvert (17-7).
“It was an all-around phenomenal game,” Hillsdale head coach Ben Ferguson said. “If I had to give a game ball, I don’t know who I’d give it to.
“For a full game, this was definitely our best game this season.”
Both teams had four players reach double digits, as Hayden McFadden (16 points, 6 rebounds), Knox Lewis (10 points, 10 rebounds) and Kael Lewis (10 points, 9 rebounds) all had big moments for the Falcons.
Troy Bennett added eight points and Jake Haven hit a critical 6-of-8 free throws in the game’s final two minutes for Hillsdale, which hadn’t scored 80 points in regulation all season.
But it was Lowen Ferguson stealing the show.
The sophomore point guard tallied 15 points in a momentum-swinging third quarter that saw the Falcons outscore the Blue Devils 28-14.
Ferguson’s sixth 3-pointer of the game made it 56-38 in the third period, then he made a putback on Hillsdale’s next possession to push the spread to 58-38.
McFadden then closed the quarter with a buzzer-beating layup to goose the Falcons ahead 60-38.
“My boys at halftime, they came in and they were skinned up from being held, scratched and poked and I said, ‘That’s how basketball used to be played, man. Toughen up. … Let’s just play,’” coach Ferguson said. “And we came out in that third quarter (and took control).
“I told them this was the kind of game, plain and simple, that comes down to who wants it more. I think we came out in that third quarter and we wanted it.”
McDonald had allowed more than 59 points just one other time all season, a 72-48 loss to Lake Center Christian that denied the Blue Devils a perfect regular season.
The team thrived on 3-point shooting, making 183 shots from downtown entering the game (7.6 per game). But Hillsdale made nine treys, compared to McDonald’s seven, and the Blue Devils never had a lead after early in the first quarter.
Sophomore Joshua Krumpak led McDonald with 18 points, while senior teammates Casey Miller (15), Drew Zajack (12) and Joey Cappuzzello (11) also finished in double figures.
Coach Ferguson said maintaining the lead put the pressure on McDonald.
“They’re senior-laden and they’re winners who have won in many sports,” he said. “With a team like that, you’ve got to keep in front of them — you can’t let them breathe, you can’t let them think there’s a chance.”
The contest was a rematch between two schools that played in the Division VII football state semifinals in the fall, a 41-14 win for Hillsdale.
Inside a packed, loud gym, Ferguson said he felt there was definitely a bit of leftover hostility from that game.
“They were incredibly physical — it was the way basketball used to be played when I was a kid,” the coach said. “It was a spirited contest, but when it’s all clicking for us, we’re tough to beat.”
The Falcons now are riding an eight-game winning streak, their longest in at least 14 years.
On Tuesday at Barberton, they’ll face a Calvert team that has won its last seven. The Senecas beat Old Fort on Saturday, 49-33, a team they had lost to twice in the regular season.
Calvert finished fourth in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference and is led by senior guard Logan Ritzler (18.8 points per game in the regular season) and junior guard Vincenzo Lyons (11.1 ppg, 7.0 rpg).
Hillsdale now has won at least 18 games in three straight seasons for the first time ever and is in the regional tournament for the fourth time (also 1990, 2001, 2025).