Stallions boys win share of league cage championship

By SETH SHANER

February 17, 2009

If the high school boys basketball season is a race, DeSales isn't close to the finish line, despite already having claimed at least a share of a fourth straight Central Catholic League title.

An 80-43 home win over St. Charles sealed the championship Friday, Feb. 13.

Coming a week after an overtime loss at Hartley, the Stallions (15-3, 8-1 CCL) have regrouped.

"(The loss) shocked us a little bit and it made us realize we can't take nights off," DeSales senior Zak Gaborcik said. "We have to work hard every day to do what we want to achieve."

Nearly doubling the point total of the Cardinals was a good way to bounce back from the previous week's loss.

Junior Nick Kellogg led the way with 23 points, while senior Ike Ariguzo added 15 and senior Nick Goff 14.

A 74-41 home win over Lebanon Saturday, Feb. 14, brought DeSales within one game of completing a second consecutive undefeated season at home.

"We have one more game on our home floor to try to complete that," Gaborcik said. "The goal is the same every year. We want to do well in the CCL and in the tournament. Hopefully, we can make it out of the district tournament and make some noise."

Before the postseason begins, the Stallions are to play archrival Watterson Friday, Feb. 20, at Capital University (7:45 p.m.).

Not only will the game against the Eagles provide another chance to perform in front of a large crowd -- the two teams met in front of a near-capacity crowd Jan. 23 at Otterbein -- it's a chance for DeSales to play a stronger all-around game against its rival.

The Stallions needed to overcome a 20-point deficit to force overtime and, eventually, claim a win over the Eagles the first time around.

"We're really excited to get back against them," Gaborcik said. "We want to show Watterson that that wasn't our best performance.

"For our seniors, we haven't lost to them ever in our career. We want to finish against them strong. We'll have a good week of practice and everyone will be really excited."

DeSales is to finish the regular season with a home date against Massillon Washington Saturday, Feb. 21, at 7:45 p.m.

From there, the Stallions, the top seed in the Division II Central District tournament, will begin their postseason run against either Amanda-Clearcreek or Whitehall Feb. 28 at Grove City (8 p.m.).

A win would put DeSales in a district semifinal March 6 at the Ohio Expo Center Coliseum (8 p.m.).

The Stallions' bracket will send its district champion to a regional semifinal March 19 at Bowling Green State University (8 p.m.).

Only two other teams seeded in the top eight chose to play through DeSales' bracket in No. 4 seed Eastmoor Academy and No. 6 Big Walnut.

The Warriors defeated DeSales in a district final last season, but Gaborcik, Kellogg and Goff all competed on the final four team of two years ago, so they have both good and bad tournament experiences.

"We know what it's like to get there and we have a veteran team," Gaborcik explained. "We have five seniors and we know what it takes to get wins.

"We know how we want to feel at the end of the year."