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Heartland Christian 61, Conotton Valley 50
COLUMBIANA -- Heartland Christian arrived in time for a shot at a second straight OVAC Class 1A title.
The top-seeded Lions scored 29 points in the fourth quarter to pull away from fourth-seeded Conotton Valley for a 61-50 in Tuesday's semifinal.
Juniors Collin Kalaher and Brody Conaway combined for 19 points in the fourth quarter to highlight the Heartland run.
Kalaher finished with a game-high 24 points and Conaway had 15. Corban Seutia added 12 points.
Heartland won its sixth in a row to improve to 16-4. The Lions will play third-seed Frontier (12-5) in the title game at noon Saturday at the ECO Center in St. Clairsville. Frontier advanced with a 56-44 win over second-seeded Morgantown Trinity Christian on Tuesday.
Fourth-seeded Conotton Valley drops to 9-10.
RJ Higgenbotham and Gavin Haney scored 15 points apiece for the Rockets. Kaden Leggett added 12 points.
Conotton Valley led 19-15 in the first quarter after getting 12 points from Haney.
The Rockets' lead got as high as nine at 24-15 on a Leggett three-pointer with 6:12 left in the second quarter.
Heartland scored only four points in the period and trailed 27-19 at halftime.
The Lions tied the game at 27-27 with 5:36 to play in the third quarter. A Kalaher steal and layup gave the Lions a 35-32 late in the third quarter and they never looked back.
Another Kalaher steal and layup made it 41-33 in the fourth quarter. He scored 11 pointrs in the final period.
Conotton Valley closed the gap to 46-43 with 3:19 remaining, but the Lions pulled away with nine free throws, six from Conaway.
CV: 19-8- 5-18--50
HC: 15-4-16-29--61
Toronto 88, Lisbon 80, OT
TORONTO -- The Toronto boys' basketball let a double-digit advantage slip away as Lisbon was ultimately able to force overtime.
Toronto responded in the extra period as No. 1 seeded Red Knights were able to right the ship and hold on and defeat the fourth-seeded Blue Devils, 88-80, in an OVAC Class 2A semifinal Tuesday at George J. Kunzler Memorial Gymnasium.
"It was a great high school basketball game," Toronto coach Sean Tucker said. "It was a great game between two former EOAC rivals. It was a good outcome for us."
Toronto improves to 17-3, while Lisbon moves to 13-5.
Austin Buchanan scored a game-high 33 points to lead the way for Toronto. Following him were Colt Joynson with18 points), Brady Fair 16 and Landon Grimes 10
AJ Ramgeet led Lisbon with a team-high 30 points, nine rebounds, seven assists and three steals.
Aidan Ramgeet collected 24 points, Logan Sturgeon had 11 points and seven rebounds and Ashton Hinchliffe grabbed six rebounds.
"Give Lisbon credit," Tucker said. "They knocked down some key shots, and we didn't. I think we were up 18. We were able to get the lead. We had the momentum, and we were playing with confidence.
Toronto will take on No. 2 seed Caldwell in the tournament final at 2 p.m. Saturday at the ECO Center in St. Clairsville. Caldwell advanced to the title tilt by defeating No. 3 seed Bridgeport, 72-52, Tuesday.
Lisbon won the junior varsity game, 46-45, as Cooper Terdina scored 18 points. Hank Bodnar had 17 points for Toronto.
L: 9-19-15-23-14 -- 80
T: 23-16-6-21-22 -- 88
LISBON SCORING: A. Ramgeet 7 6-6 24, Barnes 3 0-0 7, Myers 3 0-4 6, Hinchliffe 0 2-4 2, Sturgeon 5 1-1 11, Terdina 0 0-0 0, Jones 0 0-0 0, AJ. Ramgeet 9 10-10 30. TEAM TOTALS: 27-66, 19-34: 80.
TORONTO SCORING: Grimes 1 7-8 10, Joyson 9 0-6 18, Winters 1 5-6 7, Buchanan 13 4-5 33, Fair 7 2-6 16, Henry 1 0-0 2, Rebich 1 0-0 2. TEAM TOTALS: 33, 18-31: 88.
Three-point goals: Lisbon 7-26 (A. Ramgett 4, R. Ramgeet 2, Barnes); Toronto 4 (Buchanan 3, Grimes).