Neither of them won pretty last night -- Eastmoor beat Big Walnut 44-41 and DeSales defeated Buckeye Valley 52-40 -- but they showed the grit and savvy of the grizzled tournament veterans they are.

"Let's face it, it's ugly basketball down in the (Ohio Expo Center Coliseum) sometimes, and it's a science to figure out a formula for success, sell the players on it and stick with it regardless of how things are going," DeSales coach Blair Albright said.

"We told our guys the three most important things at this stage of the tournament are defending well, rebounding and getting high-percentage shots, and although we didn't shoot particularly well, we followed the blueprint pretty much as we hoped."

Eastmoor's other tournament game, a 44-41 win over Hamilton Township, also wasn't as impressive as a 62-56 loss to Northland in the City League championship game, but coach Sean Taylor adheres to the same mind-set as Albright: Play solid defense and just find a way to win.

"We've been playing pretty good defense and that's sort of become our calling card," Taylor said.

"Sure, our tournament games have been close, but I try to view it as a positive that we have that experience in tough games. We've got several guys who have played deep into the playoffs in football and basketball the past couple years and they know how to compete with the game on the line."

Albright noticed the same thing while scouting Eastmoor late in the season.

"I really respect how physically and mentally tough Eastmoor is, and that success in athletics has a lot to do with that," he said. "They make you work really hard to earn wins."

The same could be said for DeSales, which features several athletes from a state semifinalist football team and a state-renowned soccer team.

DeSales beat Eastmoor in the 2007 district final, and Eastmoor returned the favor last year. The third chapter will be Friday in the Coliseum.

Fourth-seeded Eastmoor (16-6) made 7 of 8 free throws in the final 1:30 to hold off Big Walnut (12-10).

Facing strong perimeter pressure, Big Walnut's Tyler Beam missed a three-point attempt as time expired that would have forced overtime.

Alex Coleman scored 14 points, Doug Thorpe 11 and Matt Ryan 10 for the Warriors.

"The game had sort of a strange feel," Coleman said. "We couldn't get any transition baskets, but we fought through it and came through with the win."

Eugene Cannaday led Big Walnut with 14 points and seven rebounds.

Top-seeded DeSales (19-3) used a strong push in the third quarter to pull away from pesky Buckeye Valley (12-10).

Ike Ariguzo had 14 points and 14 rebounds to lead the Stallions, who had a 30-19 rebounding advantage.

"Things didn't really go the way we wanted them to offensively, but our coaches made sure we kept focused on defense and rebounding," Ariguzo said.