The Stallions (20-3) weren't in control of the game until late in the fourth quarter -- and in fact didn't take its final lead until there was 3:13 to play -- but had too many weapons en route to their second straight district championship.

The Warriors (19-4) came back from a nine-point deficit in the first half to lead twice in the third quarter, and once in the fourth, but couldn't grab control of the game down the stretch.

The fate of the Stallions again came down to, in part, the play of junior center Sean Hobbs.

While Hobbs wasn't dominating for much of the game, unlike his district semifinal performance against Linden a week earlier, he picked a fine time to take over in the paint.

Hobbs blocked four shots in the final two minutes -- he had six in all -- keeping a lid on the Eastmoor basket and preserving the DeSales lead.

"We knew he was a good player and a force in the middle," Eastmoor coach Sean Taylor said. "We could never get them out of their two-three zone. To do that we'd have had to have hit some threes and he could just stand in the middle and control things. They're a solid squad."

Hobbs put an exclamation mark on his day by swishing two free throws in the waning seconds.

Also huge was the play of freshman guard Nick Kellogg, who scored a career-high 24 points on 8-of-15 shooting from the field. He was 7 of 8 at the free throw line.

"It's a team effort," Albright said. "That's what we talked about in our pregame talk. We said if we were going to do this it wasn't going to be about heroes, but it was going to be about the five guys on the floor playing team defense and being unselfish with the ball.

"It just so happened that (Nick Kellogg's) shots were the best shots. I think they did a great job with their defensive game plan making sure that (point guard) Dane (Johnson) didn't hurt them too much, or even Alex (Kellogg) and Elijah (Allen), but it just showed the essence of team that (Hobbs and Nick Kellogg) were able to do so much."

Usual suspects for taking over the game, seniors Allen (14 points, 11 rebounds) and Alex Kellogg (17 and 10) each had quietly solid games, but it was unsung players like Hobbs and Nick Kellogg who put DeSales over the top.

News photo by Craig James. The DeSales boys basketball team enjoys a moment with its district championship trophy following Friday's tournament final win over Eastmoor at the Ohio Expo Center Coliseum.

"We knew exactly what (Alex) Kellogg and Allen could do," Taylor said. "They're really not good shooters so they're going to go to the hole hard and they're going to go after offensive boards hard.

"We paid special attention to that and tried to take away their transition baskets. We did a horrible job of that in the first half, but did much better in the second half. They just beat us on the offensive boards."

Taylor actually pointed toward a sense of urgency for his team's increased defensive intensity in the second half.

"We knew we had to speed the game up," he explained. "We went on a 6-0 game to end the half and the intensity rose and we took a lot more chances.

"We did a lot more trapping, but when you come within two points you have to be able to take the lead and keep it. We'd get the lead and give it right back."

Eastmoor's Ronald Steward put aside a quiet first half and had a breakout third quarter, scoring 13 of his 20 points in just over a minute of play, but it wasn't enough.

"That's why he's the district player of the year," Taylor said of Steward. "He led us this year and he's so fast with the ball. He's so intelligent with it.

"He got a little out of it toward the end. We got down and he tried to rush it a little bit, but he does it all for us. I wish he would've shot some more shots because he's just a complete player."

DeSales plays Dresden Tri-Valley (22-1) in the regional semifinal at Ohio University's Convocation Center Thursday (6:15 p.m.).