'It wasn't pretty': Hiland grinds out win, moves on to seventh straight regional final

ATHENS — Federal Hocking coach Jonathan Thompson felt the Div. IV Athens Regional semifinal might come down to who had the ball last. The coach was correct.

Fortunately for Hiland, the Hawks had the ball after Andrew Airhart nailed a game-tying 3-pointer with 10 seconds left in the game. Hiland guard Sammy Detweiler then drove the length of the floor to untie the score, but there were still five seconds to play.

An errant pass by the Lancers gave the ball back to the Hawks with 1.4 seconds remaining and Nick Wigton was fouled on the inbounds play. The sophomore swished the resulting free throws to give the Hawks a 55-51 triumph and advance Hiland to the championship game Friday at 7 p.m. against Westerville Northside Christian, a 66-56 winner in the other semifinal game Tuesday at Ohio University's Convocation Center.

"We knew that was the kind of game it was going to be with two quality teams going at it head to head," Thompson said. "The Detweiler kid got it on the drive. We wanted to try and keep the ball in his hands, but he did a better job on offense than we did on defense. Hats off to him. He knocked down the shot."

Hiland coach Mark Schlabach praised the junior's ability to make a good decision and even better shot.

"For the second game in a row, Sammy has made a really good decision," Schlabach said. "He didn't settle for a jump shot, instead he tried to get to the rim. It's nice we have a guy like Sammy who has the confidence to make that shot. He didn't force stuff. He just took what they gave him."

Detweiler fought through a box-and-one — and other junk defenses — all night and still managed to lead the Hawks with 16 points, including the go-ahead jumper in the waning seconds.

Alex Yoder added 12 points and Carson Habeger added 10, while Nick Wigton came off the bench and chipped in eight points for the winners, including a pair of 3-pointers in the first half on back-to-back trips down the floor, that turned a 17-14 deficit into a 20-17 Hiland advantage.

Scotty Balch buried a 3-pointer for the Lancers to give Federal Hocking a 25-24 lead at intermission.

Schlabach said the Lancers did a good job of mixing their defenses up and kept the Hawks off-balance.

He praised the performance of Federal Hocking's junior guard Tariq Cottrill, whose quickness caused all sorts of problems for the Hawks.

"Cottrill was just a menace. He made it tough for us to get into our sets offensively," Schlabach said. "He disrupted the flow."

Phin Killy was able to drive and score to open the third quarter, and the lead went back and forth.

The Lancers' Iden Miller drained a triple from the corner for a 32-28 advantage, and a Cottrill jumper gave Federal Hocking a six-point edge, but back-to-back bombs by Detweiler evened things up at 34. A Connor Beachy layup gave Hiland a 36-34 lead, only to see Cottrill make a steal and go the length of the floor to knot things back up.

Alex Miller swished a triple and a pair of Habeger free throws had Hiland ahead 41-36, but a 3-point play by Iden Miller trimmed the lead to 41-39 after three.

"They played their game. They get up into you on defense and they execute their offense," Thompson said of the Hawks. "We tried to run different schemes and stuff at them, and for the most part it was successful."

Buckets by Habeger and Yoder to open the final frame gave the Hawks a 45-39 lead with 5:30 to play, before the Lancers came storming back to tie it on scores by Miller, Balch and Airhart midway through the fourth quarter.

Detweiler scored, but Miller countered with a triple to give Federal Hocking a 48-47 lead at the 3:08 mark.

Alex Yoder scored to reclaim the lead for Hiland inside of two minutes. A flurry of empty possessions by both teams led to another Yoder bucket, and the Hawks were ahead 51-48 with 40 seconds to play in regulation.

A steal by the Hawks led to a layup attempt that came up empty, giving the Lancers the ball with 20 seconds remaining.

After a timeout, Airhart drained a triple from the top of the key to tie the game at 51, setting up Detweiler's final dash.

The Lancers coach said he was pleased with his team's effort against a quality opponent like Hiland.

"When we came off the court, I wanted my players to look me dead in the eye and say they gave everything they had to give on that basketball floor," he said. "I feel like they did that."

Airhart paced the Federal Hocking attack with 17 points, hitting seven of eight shots from the field, including two triple tries. Miller added 11 and Cottrill 10.

Yoder yanked down nine rebounds for the Hawks, who lost the battle of the boards 29-25. Cottrill grabbed six and Miller and Balch each grabbed five for the Lancers.

Schlabach said it has taken this year's team a little longer to figure out how to grind out wins.

"Last year we won ugly all year long," Schlabach said. "This year, we've won and oftentimes looked real good; but it's been a rollercoaster. Lately we've figured out on nights when we haven't played our best how to grind out wins. That what I'm proud of our guys most for. Out of their last six possessions, we got five stops. We just grind that thing out at the end. It wasn't pretty."

It may not have been a work of art, but the 19-8 Hawks are moving on, while the Lancers bow out at 24-4.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Boys Basketball: Hiland beats Federal Hocking in OHSAA regional semi