TROY — Lehman Catholic senior forward Donovan O’Leary had the biggest night of his career on Wednesday. The Cavaliers needed it to make a huge rally in a Division IV sectional final.

O’Leary scored 15 of his 16 points in the second half to help Lehman rally and beat Southeastern 46-44 at Troy High School’s Trojan Activities Center. He surpassed 1,000 career points in the victory and surpassed 500 career rebounds.

“Talk about a pretty big night for a kid and a team,” Lehman Catholic coach Pat Carlisle said. “… He made a couple big drives (in the second half). We kind of switched the three and the five there in the fourth quarter, and it opened a lot of things.

“It would have been really easy to lay down. When you’re in a tournament game, you’ve got to ask, ‘Can we fight through this to be on the court tomorrow?’ Obviously the will of Lehman, the nature of our kids, what a comeback for us. You’ve also got to give Lehman coaches and players a lot of credit for not rolling over and finding a way to win.”

Lehman Catholic (17-6) played terrible in the first half and didn’t exactly play well in the second half, but it played well enough to make a tremendous comeback. The squad trailed 23-5 late in the first half but managed to take a brief lead in the fourth quarter and force overtime.

Southeastern took the 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 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,” 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.”

The Trojans lost a normal starter in senior guard Zach McKee late in regular season due to a shoulder injury and barely subbed during Wednesday’s game.

“He’s a big part of what we do,” Stout said. “Basketball’s not one guy, but it hurt not having him tonight. …We got a little fatigued.”

Aside from O’Leary, who was recently named first team all-Three Rivers Conference, Lachey, a sophomore guard, added 14. Olding, also a sophomore guard, finished with eight.

Lehman, 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.

“Hat’s off to Southeastern. They obviously had a pretty good game plan, a great game plan,” Carlisle said.

The Cavaliers 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. They also rebounded better in the second half and prevented the Trojans from getting second-chance looks.

“Offensively, we didn’t crash much (in the first half), and that definitely hurt us,” Carlisle said. “… It’s amazing when you get some rebounds and the ball’s yours more, it’s easier to score.”

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.”

Stout was happy with Southeastern’s defense at the end of regulation.

“We kept them out of the lane. I’d rather them have to knock down a shot than get an easy layup,” Stout said.

He said he was pleased with the team’s hot start, but knew Lehman would rally.

“If a team like Lehman isn’t hitting in the first half, they’re going to make them in the second half,” Carlisle said. “Our defense was really great in the first half. We got a little fatigued, and that hurt, but they started knocking down some shots.”

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.

“We’re happy,” Stout said. “We had a lot of seniors, and this was a good year for them.”

Workman, a junior, led the Trojans with 17 points. Robinson, a senior, finished with nine.

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