Overtime drama. A second-quarter surge. A road win to finish the sweep.
Three Chagrin Valley Conference boys basketball teams captured Division VI sectional championships Thursday night, with Cuyahoga Heights delivering the most dramatic finish by edging visiting Dalton, 58-55, in overtime.
Gus Tartara scored 22 points — including nine in the fourth quarter — as the Red Wolves survived a back-and-forth battle that wasn’t decided until the final seconds of the extra session.
“It was one of the best games that coach (Matt) Streicher and I have been involved with in 20 years at Cuyahoga Heights,” said coach Michael Tartara. “Dalton is extremely well coached. If you look at the book, they all had eight to 10 points, and they had a plan, and they executed the plan. Their coach is very intelligent, and he’s doing a great job over there. They have three district championships in a row for a reason. It’s not an accident. They’re a really good program, so the fact that we were able to pull it off was just a monumental moment for our program.”
Cuyahoga Heights led 11-10 after one quarter before Dalton used a 17-point third to move in front. The Red Wolves answered with a 15-8 fourth quarter to force overtime.
Maurice McClardy added 13 points, Antonio McCladdie scored 11 — going 3-for-4 at the line in overtime — Tyler Wheaton had nine, and Kyle Goines knocked down a pivotal three in the extra period.
“At this point, it’s just find a way to win,” Tartara said. “Maurice is our most experienced and best player, and he did not play well tonight by his standards. I feel like for him not to play his best and for us to pull one out, it gives us new life and another opportunity to find a way to get him on the right track. He’s missed so much of the season, and he’s just getting his legs back. That’s the first time he played real Maurice minutes since he went out in December.”
The 11th-seeded Red Wolves advance to face No. 16 Springfield in a district semifinal on March 2.
Top-seeded Kirtland followed by breaking its game open in the second quarter on the way to an 81-55 win over Bard Early College.
Ben DiFranco powered the surge, scoring 10 of his team-high 16 points in the period as the Hornets repeatedly turned rim runs into high-percentage looks.
“Running the floor and getting favorable matchups for me and our guards was a huge reason why we pulled away,” DiFranco said. “Sammy Ridgeway and Nick Nead found me in the post whenever I could, and they trusted me to finish around the rim.”
Ridgeway finished with 12 points and buried a pair of second-quarter 3-pointers, Jake LaVerde added 11 points, and Jared Cottrell scored all 10 of his points in the fourth quarter to keep Kirtland comfortably in front. Nead contributed eight points and hit two first-quarter triples as the Hornets built their early lead.
No. 1 Kirtland will host No. 22 St. Thomas Aquinas in a March 2 district semifinal.
Rootstown completed the CVC sweep with a 53-45 road win at Mineral Ridge to secure its Division VI sectional title.
The 17th-seeded Rovers move on to travel to No. 10 Oberlin on March 2 for a district semifinal.
