Willard preps for longtime foe in district

WILLARD — Just like old times. Longtime rivalries will be on display in what is also one of the most dominant districts — on paper — in the state on Thursday night at Ontario High School. That quartet includes the Willard boys basketball team, which takes on longtime non-league rival Lexington in a Division II district semifinal. The Crimson Flashes (19-4) finished ranked No. 7 in the final Associated Press state poll, while the Minutemen (21-2) were ranked No. 3. Willard and Lexington will tip about 30 minutes after another start-studded matchup when AP No. 2-ranked Shelby (20-2) takes on Mansfield Senior (18-6) in the 6 p.m. game. The Whippets, Minutemen and Flashes are the top three seeds in the district, while the Tygers are seeded fifth and beat No. 4 Bellevue (17-5) to advance. On top of the deep history — this will be the 58th all-time meeting — the Flashes and Minutemen also played a memorable tournament game just last year. Lexington edged Willard, 58-56, in a sectional championship game at Mansfield Madison. "We feel excited for the challenge because obviously with the history of playing Lexington, this is a game that goes back a long, long time," Willard head coach Joe Bedingfield said. "It's a historic matchup over the years that has produced great games between two solid programs with tremendous athletes on both sides. "It was a very good game last year where we didn't do enough late to secure it." Lexington has been nothing short of impressive in winning 21 of its 23 games this season. Its only losses are a neutral site defeat against Gahanna Lincoln (13-10), 56-46, on Jan. 14 at Ohio Dominican University; and a 58-54 loss to Div. III powerhouse and AP poll champion Ottawa-Glandorf at home Feb. 17 in the regular season finale. The Minutemen are averaging 67.9 points per game and allow 43.7 points per contest. They are led by Brayden Fogle, the Ohio Cardinal Conference Player of the Year. The 6-foot-6 sophomore forward is averaging 14.5 points and 8.2 rebounds per game and holds NCAA Division I offers from Arizona State University and Texas A&M among others. Lex also is paced by All-OCC first-teamer Elijah Hudson. The 6-8 senior averages 12.8 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. Also for the Minutemen, sophomore point guard Seven Allen adds 10.6 points and 4.4 assists per game. "They are a lot better with Seven Allen at the point this year," Bedingfield said of the Minutemen. "They are a little young, but they don't play young. They are very athletic and can cause you a lot of problems, and they get out in transition really well. :They rebound well, also. We'll have our hands full, though all four teams are very good and probably feel the same way with how loaded the district is this year. Hopefully we're up for the challenge again on Thursday." Bedingfield is hoping his team continues to learn from an 89-67 loss to the rival Whippets on Feb. 23 in the regular season finale. The Flashes were just seven days removed from a 77-38 win at Div. III AP No. 6 Margaretta (21-3), but the pace was too fast against Shelby. Willard then flipped the script against No. 6 seed Perkins (16-8) in a sectional title game on March 1. The Pirates entered the game having won 12 of their last 14 games. The Flashes played a much more methodical game and came away with a 52-44 win. "Hopefully we learned a little bit from that Shelby loss as far as facing athletic teams like them," Bedingfield said. "Perkins, Lex and Mansfield, against those sorts of teams, you have to be conscientious with shot selection, because they are so athletic that they can turn those bad shots into long outlets and hurt you in transition at the other end." In the win over Perkins, Bedingfield said his team focused on getting back on defense and making the Pirates work more. The Flashes weren't trying to stall, but focused on getting touches in the paint and reversing the basketball on passes before attempting a three-pointer or driving to the rim. "And our kids did a really good job defensively of buying into that," he said. "They were protecting the paint first and limiting their second-chance opportunities. I think in the first half we only had four offensive rebounds. Aiden Slone did a nice job of holding Mikey Young to a couple of baskets. We really tried to emphasize our half-court defense more." On offense, Bedingfield said the Flashes were focused on not taking bad or quick shots. In Willard's higher-possession games, it wasn't scoring a high rate of points per possession. "And we look at that a lot to see where we are and what pace we need," he said. "We were a little more patient and deliberant than we were during the regular season, but that is because we're playing in Division II and there are a lot of different athletes on the floor who can hurt you in a lot of different ways." Willard enters Thursday's game averaging 65.8 points per game while allowing 52.3 points per contest. They are led by 6-3 standout guard Max Dawson, who reached another milestone in the win over the Pirates. With his game-high 28 points, Dawson became the second player in program history to register multiple 600-point seasons at Willard. Dawson (26.2 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3.4 assists) joins Jimmy Langhurst (600 in 2005; 807 in 2006), while Nick Dials (676) also reached the mark in 2003. Dawson (1,821 points) trails only Langhurst (2,199) and Dials (2,180) in career points at Willard as well. Also for Willard, Cam Robinson — also a 1,000-point scorer — averages 16.9 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. Isaac Robinson adds 8.6 points, 8.3 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game, and Jackson Beamer averages 7.5 points and 3.9 rebounds. With Lexington's size and Willard's overall depth, Bedingfield said rebounding is the biggest key to success. "Without a question," he said, "Lexington's size, after watching them play against OG and Shelby, who are athletic, taller teams, they still did a nice job of rebounding and getting their hands on the basketball." Lexington has also used its size to limit second-chance opportunities for the opposition, something Willard thrived on this season en route to an SBC Bay Division co-championship. "Obviously there are a lot of things with transition and their ability to extend possessions while limiting ours," Bedingfield said. "They don't allow you to get second-chance opportunities that we might get in our league. That's another reason why we're trying to be more patient and talking to our kids a lot about shot selection. "We have to know the difference between a good shot and a bad shot that can lead to a transition basket on the other end," he added. "We have to rebound the ball and be more physical." Series history On top of a 25-32 mark in the regular season, Willard is also 6-8 in the tournament against the Minutemen all-time. The eight losses are the most to any opponent since 1950-51 in tournament play for the Flashes, just ahead of rival Bellevue, who they are 7-7 against In the postseason. As for the Whippets and Tygers, there is also no shortage of history in the regular season and tournament against Willard. The Flashes are 87-64 all-time against Shelby in the regular season and 8-3 in the tournament. The Flashes have played Mansfield Senior/Malabar twice in the regualr season and (1-1) and 27 times (18-9) in the regular season.