"It never gets old': Hiland wins eighth straight district crown

BELMONT — Playing with passion, pride and poise, along with a dose of big game experience, the Hiland Hawks ran their streak to eight consecutive trips to the regional tournament with a convincing 54-43 victory over top-seeded Monroe Central in the Div. IV East District championship Friday at Union Local High School.

The win sends the 20-6 Hawks to the Ohio University Convocation Center in Athens on Tuesday at 6 p.m. against Westerville Northside Christian. Monroe Central bows out at 23-2.

The victory was also Hiland's 23rd East District championship, the 13th for coach Mark Schlabach in his 19 seasons at Hiland.

"It never gets old," Schlabach said. "That game is really hard to play in, and one of the advantages we have is a locker room full of kids who have played in this game. We've also played a brutal schedule. Those two things in an atmosphere like this, I'm just really proud of our guys.

"They played with toughness tonight and poise," the coach continued. "I thought it was one of our most poised games we played all year. And the reality was, we had the best player on the floor. Sammy (Detweiler) may have only scored 16 points, but he completely controlled the game. When you have that, and so many other guys who made the right plays when we really needed them, that's hard to beat."

The Hawks took control early after the Seminoles opened the scoring. Four different players scored for the Hawks, as Nick Wigton tied it at two, Sam Wengerd scored off a turnover and Detweiler drilled a 3-pointer. Logan Hershberger then scored off another turnover and the Hawks were up 9-2 and first-year Monroe Central coach Mason Lang needed a time out to settle his troops down.

Detweiler scored on a hard drive to the bucket to put Hiland up 11-4 before Caedyn Silva swished a 3-pointer to stem the momentum for the Seminoles.

Caleb Mishler answered with a triple for the Hawks and Hiland led 14-9 after the first period of play.

After a Tucker Howell basket inside trimmed the Hiland lead to 14-11, Wigton answered with a hard drive to the hoop of his own. A turnover led to a triple by Wengerd and the Hawks were back up 19-11.

C.J. Yoder drilled a 3-pointer to put the Hawks up 10 but Silva answered for MCHS. Detweiler scored a layup to beat the buzzer and gave the Hawks a 31-22 lead at intermission.

Hiland came up empty on its first five possessions of the second half but the Seminoles were only amble to pull within three, 31-28, on a bucket by Howell.

But Mishler connected from long range again, and Detweiler followed with two free throws, a steal and layup, and an Alex Miller layup gave the Hawks a 40-30 advantage heading into the final frame.

"Caleb Mishler, Sam Wengerd, C.J. Yoder; those guys were unbelievable," Schlabach said. "Alex (Miller) and Nick (Wigton) and Sammy, guys who have played in this game before, you could tell they had been there."

The Hawks opened up a 15-point lead to start the final frame on a pair of Detweiler free throws and the third 3-pointer by the sophomore guard Mishler, and the Hawks milked the clock the rest of the way to earn the 11-point win.

"It was huge the way some of the other guys stepped up and filled their roles," Detweiler said. "Sam (Wengerd) played his butt off. He played really well on the offensive end, but what people don't see is his work on the defensive end, he battled the whole game against their best player. He played a heck of a game.

"This is so much fun. All that work we put in over the summer. All those practices. We work harder than any other team in Ohio, and this is why we get this far every year," Detweiler added. "When you put that Hiland uniform on, there's always going to be pressure. It's expected of us to come and play hard each and every night."

The Hiland coach commended the Seminoles, who made their first East District final appearance, while notching a school record for wins in a season with 23.

"They're deep, they're athletic, they're long and they're young," Schlabach said of Monroe Central. "They'll be back. Their record (23-2) speaks for itself. Possessions are so important in a game like this. They had a lot of unforced turnovers that hurt them, but that's something they will learn from.

"That's where I think our schedule and some of the teams we played like Lutheran East and Ottawa-Glandorf really helped," the coach continued. "If you make one unforced error, it feels like five."

Hiland took advantage of almost every one of Monroe Central's 16 turnovers, while only coughing it up 11 times themselves.

Detweiler led Hiland with 16 points. Wengerd added 10 and Mishler finished with nine. Wigton chipped in eight and Alex Miller six for the balanced attack of the Hawks, who made 6-of-15 from beyond the arc and added 13-of-23 from inside the 3-point line. Hiland also made 10-of-14 free throws.

Howell and Chance Allen led the Seminoles with 12 points apiece, although Allen only scored two in the second half. Monroe Central went 2 for 11 from 3-point range with Silva canning both of those. The Seminoles made 16 of 26 shots from inside the arc, adding 5 of 8 from the foul line. The Hawks won the battle of the boards 24-20.

Monroe Central coach Lang agreed that there was a lot to learn from this game.

"We need to get stronger in the off season to be able to match the physicality of the 23-time district champions," Lang said. "They brought a physicality we hadn't seen this season. We'll try and address that in the offseason and move forward from there.

"The leadership of our two seniors (Lane Demchak and Zander Potts) was great all season, especially stepping in as a first-year coach," Lang continued. "Being the leaders they were was really helpful to me. But we've got a good group of young players and we'll be back."

This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Boys Hoops: Hiland beats Monroe Central, wins eighth straight district