TROY — Lehman Catholic played terrible in the first half of a Division IV sectional final. It didn’t exactly play well in the second half, but it played well enough to make a tremendous comeback.

The Cavaliers hit enough shots and took advantage of opportunities to rally from an 18-point deficit and beat Southeastern 46-44 on Wednesday at Troy High School’s Trojan Activities Center.

Southeastern took an early lead in overtime, but Lehman again staged a comeback.

The Cavaliers scored the first five points in overtime, but Southeastern’s Gehrig Cordial made a basket in the post with 1:53 left to cut the gap to 43-40, then Cole Walton made a basket with 1:33 left to trim the gap to one point.

Jonah Asebrook made a layup on a drive along the right baseline with about 30 seconds left to give the Trojans a 44-43 lead.

Lehman nearly turned it over on its next possession after the ball got away from Donovan O’Leary on a pass down the lane, and Asebrook suffered a knee injury diving for the ball and left the game.

After the injury timeout, Lehman worked it in with about 15 seconds left. Turner Lachey drove in on the right side with about 12 seconds left and threw it out to CJ Olding, who made a 3 from the left wing with about five seconds left.

“He got his left foot down, got the left arm going, perfect follow through,” Lehman coach Pat Carlisle said of Olding’s 3. “My hat’s off to him. Huge shot of his life. What a moment for CJ, our team, and our entire school.”

The Trojans raced down and got it to Cordial, who shot a long 3 at the buzzer that bounced off the rim.

Southeastern coach Chris Stout said he was proud of his squad’s effort to take the lead in overtime after struggling for a long period to hit shots.

“Shows the heart for the kind of players we have,” Stout said. “That’s been us all year. We dug deep. I feel like we were running on empty going into overtime. We found the will there for a while.

“They hit a shot. We didn’t. We come up on the losing end.”

O’Leary, a senior forward, led the Cavaliers with 16 points. He was recently named first team all-Three Rivers Conference. Lachey, a sophomore guard, added 14. Olding, also a sophomore guard, finished with eight.

Lehman (17-6), which is the Dayton D-IV sectional’s No. 7 seed, advances to face No. 4 Botkins (18-6) in a district semifinal at 6 p.m. on Saturday in Troy. The Trojans beat Triad 60-26 in Wednesday’s second sectional final.

Lehman lost 35-32 on a buzzer-beater by the Trojans in a sectional final last year in Piqua.

“It’s kind of fitting, with that being a buzzer-beater,” Carlisle said. “We look forward to playing. We’ll be back to work tomorrow.”

Lehman scored the last five points of the second quarter to pull within 23-10 at halftime. They opened the second with a 3 by Lachey to pull within 10 points, but Brennan Workman hit two 3s to give the Trojans a 29-13 lead.

Southeastern struggled to get anything to fall the rest of the night, and Lehman slowly inched back. The Cavaliers finished the third quarter with a 10-3 advantage to pull within 32-23 heading into the fourth.

The Trojans made several turnovers in the fourth, and Lehman capitalized on a few to help in their comeback.

“Late in the third quarter and early fourth, we changed the three/four combo to open up some ball screen defense, and that obviously worked, that little wrinkle there,” Carlisle said. “That got us going. We had a great defensive year in the TRC, and in the second half, our defense really got going.”

Lachey scored on a driving layup with about 5:25 left in the fourth to cut the gap to 36-30, then O’Leary made a 3 from the left wing with a little under five minutes left to cut the gap to one point.

Da’Ron Pride made a driving layup after a turnover to give Lehman its first lead of the night at 37-36 with 4:15 left. But Ayden Robinson made a quick basket to give the Trojans a one-point lead. O’Leary split a pair of free throws with about three minutes left to tie it 38-38.

Neither squad made a basket the rest of regulation.

Lehman drained about the last minute off the clock. After Southeastern committed a foul with about 10 seconds left, the Cavaliers got the ball inbounds. Lachey got the pass, moved up to the left wing, then backed off and threw up a heaver as time expired.

“We were trying to get down the right lane line, and we just kind of lost the moment there,” Carlisle said. “High school basketball tournament with teenagers, it happens.”

The No. 9 seed Trojans finish 16-8 overall, which was their best record since the 2016-17 season. They finished second in the Ohio Heritage Conference South Division behind Cedarville, which is scheduled to face Troy Christian in a district semi on Friday at Piqua High School’s Garbry Gymnasium.

Workman led the Trojans with 17 points. Robinson finished with nine.

Check SidneyDailyNews.com on Thursday evening for an expanded article and more photos on Lehman’s win. That expanded article will also be published in Saturday’s print edition.

Botkins 60, Triad 26

The Trojans pulled away in the fourth quarter and beat the Cardinals in the second sectional final on Wednesday in Troy.

The teams were tied 13-13 in the second quarter, but Botkins finished on a 8-2 run to take a 21-15 halftime lead. Botkins pushed its advantage to 15 in the third before Triad cut the gap to 36-26 heading into the fourth.

But the Trojans held Triad scoreless in the fourth quarter and scored 24 points to run away.

“I think we came out tonight and went through the motions to start,” Botkins coach Phil Groves said. “I thought we came out and played much better in the second half. But early on, we just didn’t play with the intensity that we finished the game with. I’m glad we found that intensity. I’d just like to find it earlier in the game.”

Collin Doseck, a senior guard who was named first team all-Shelby County Athletic League last week, finished with 18 points. Jordan Herzog scored 11, Russell Lenhart scored 10 and Noah Topp added nine.

Botkins will face Lehman in a tournament game for the second consecutive season. The Trojans beat Botkins 35-32 in a sectional final last year on a buzzer-beater.

Both Botkins’ boys and girls teams posed for a photo on the court after the game. The girls team beat SCAL rival Jackson Center 36-33 in overtime in a district semifinal at Versailles High School, then came to Troy to watch the boys game.

Botkins will face Russia in a Div. IV girls district final at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday in Troy. The boys squad will face Lehman at 6 p.m. in a district semifinal in Troy.

Check SidneyDailyNews.com on Thursday evening for more on Botkins’ win. That expanded article will also be published in Saturday’s print edition.

Reach Bryant Billing at 937-538-4818, or follow @SidneyOHSports on Twitter and @BryantBillingSDN on Facebook.