Lehman Basketball History

I am a graduate of Lehman Catholic High School and one of my favorite Varsity Sports is Basketball. Lehman has had several outstanding basketball teams during the course of the last 15 years.

1998-99: After a dismal 4-17 season, things looked bright for the Cavaliers going into the summer of 1998. But in late May, Coach Henry Stolly informed the team he was resigning and heading back to Bellefontaine. A few months later, Lima native Jerry Fries was named Head Coach and he would inherit a squad that won just seven games the previous two years. That year’s squad was awesome. Lead by seniors Tommy Middleton, Kyle Goubeaux, Bryan Tobe, Eric Hewitt and Ben Kohlhorst, the Cavaliers looked to improve on two dismal seasons. Junior’s Ryan Ratermann, Sam Mikolajewski, Tony Staley, Tony Cianciolo, Jake Sinclair, Sophomores Matt Hare and Derek Orlik rounded out the roster. The Cavaliers won just one of their first four games. They went 3-3 against teams in the Shelby County league. Beat Midwest Ohio power St. Henry at home, thanks to the heroics of Tommy Middleton, Eric Hewitt and Sam Mikolajewski, Milton Union and Miami East on back to back nights and finished the regular season at 10-10. Their opponent in the tournament was Greenview. This was a game the Cavaliers should have won. The game was tied late in the fourth quarter and Greenview was in possession and hit a three to give them the lead. With 12 seconds left, Lehman cut the lead to two and The Rams missed the second of two Free Throws. Senior Bryan Tobe’s desperation three was off as time expired and the Cavaliers season ended 42-39. I have been in a lot of locker rooms in my lifetime and I will tell all of you, the Lehman Locker Room at UD Arena on this Monday night was one of the most emotional locker rooms I have ever been in. Bryan Tobe, could not sit still, he was devastated. Class of 1999, I to this day, feel so bad, that you guys did not play for a district championship. This team was better than a 10-11 team. One name I did not mention on this years squad was, Tony Henning, the best basketball player in the class of 2000. He would have started varsity as a freshmen. Tony averaged 14 points a game in jr high, playing for his Dad in Seventh Grade and My Dad in eighth grade.

        2001-2002: The 2001-02 Lehman Basketball team had the look of a District Champion. This team was good. Jim Dembski, Mitch Geise, Pete Henne, Tom Hartings were the seniors on the team. Justin Seger, Andy Ratermann, Andy Malarkey and Nic Staley were the juniors and Ryan Shaffer was a sophomore. I went to a few games that year and the team started off slow, because of the late start do to the success of the football team. They started 1-5 and came a long way that season. They beat Russia at home, giving them their last loss before the state semis and they won nine of their last 13 games to close out the regular season and looked pretty good going into the tournament. They would play the Lumberjacks from Oakwood High School. The game got off to a great start for Lehman. Dembski hit a half court shot at the end of the first quarter and we were coasting along. Leading by 15 in the 4^th quarter. Oakwood decided to turn their game up a notch. Lehman Scored just four points in the 4^th quarter and Oakwood would make a baseline jumper at the buzzer to end Lehman’s season. This basketball team was good enough to win a District Championship and they did not. Oakwood would ride the momentum of there comeback victory and make it to the regional finals. Jerry Fries would resign from Lehman two weeks later.

2002-03: The 2002-03 Cavaliers would welcome a new coach, Mike Piatt and a new staff. The Cavaliers welcomed a talented team in Piatt’s first year at the helm. Justin Seger, Andy Malarkey, Andy Ratermann, Nic Staley and Chip Thompson were the seniors. Ryan Shaffer, Brandon Brandewie were the juniors and sophomores Mitch Rank, Derek Horstman, Ryan Debrosse and Lee Nickol rounded out the roster. Expectations for this team were very high. They wanted to have a winning season and make it to the district championship. The season did not get off to a great start for the Cavaliers. They lost their first three games, one of them to Minster in Overtime and their home opener to St. Henry by seven. I remember going to CJ Highmarks that night and I was with my cousin and my late Grandfather that night and my Grandfather told me that “they played so hard tonight and wanted so bad”. I was at practices that week and AD Jeff Uhlenhake was telling me that “I think we are going to have a heck of a basketball team this year. I maybe a football guy, but I know a thing or two about basketball to.” Lehman’s third victory of that season came at the expense of the Fairlawn Jets and Senior Justin Seger had a career night, scoring 47 points and leading the Cavaliers to a 78-73 victory. The next game out, Seger scored 37 in a victory over Wapakoneta. Lehman would win their next two games and I did not think we would lose for a couple weeks. Then came a trip to Franklin Monroe and we found ourselves down my 15 at the half and Piatt was not too thrilled. We lost the next game to Waynesfield-Goshen in double overtime and the next night hosted Xenia Christian. As the team got ready to take the floor before the start of the game, coach Piatt informed the team, “No shooting shirts, we need to play with a sense of urgency tonight, we can not afford to lose anymore games”.

                We lost to SCC at UD. Beat Ada and Russia on the Raiders floor 38-37, lost to the Bob Segerson led Lima Central Catholic squad. Then inclement weather hit and our season finale got postponed for a week. We hosted Twin Valley South just 24 hours after the won their first tournament game and we beat them pretty good and won by a nice margin. Chip Thompson hit a three to get things going for us in that game.  We went 8-2 at home Piatt’s first year. I got a front row seat that year. Coach Piatt asked me to be an Administrative Assistant that year and I embraced it with open arms. I had so much fun being around these guys that year and I was hoping it was going to continue. We played Clinton Massie in the first round of the tournament that year and CM was the brackets #1 seed. Things did not look good for us that night, we feel behind by 11 early and turned the ball over quite a bit. We fought back to take a one point lead and we were in possession and Lee Nickol dribbled the ball across the court and got the ball stolen away from him as I recall. We had a chance to tie the game late, Ryan Shaffer’s three point attempt from the right wing with 33 seconds left, looked good from where everyone was sitting. It rattled out. Ryan hits that three and we force overtime, we probably win that game. Clinton Massie went on to win by a four point margin. Justin Seger, was held without a point, but did have 15 rebounds in that game.  I was in the locker room that night and there were some heavy emotions on the face of the seniors. I felt so bad for those guys. The 2002-03 basketball team was good enough to win a district championship and they did not. They were way better than the 10-11 record they had

On October 18, 2012, I was thinking about this during the day at work. I was thinking who would win if Jerry Fries first Lehman Team played Mike Piatt’s first Lehman team: Here are the starting fives from both squads:

1998-99

§        Ryan Ratermann

§        Sam Mikolajewski

§        Tony Staley

§        Tom Middleton

§        Tony Cianciolo

Bench

§        Eric Hewitt

§        Ben Kohlhorst

§        Jake Sinclair

§        Kyle Goubeaux

§        Bryan Tobe

§        Matt Hare

§        Derek Orlik

2002-03

§        Justin Seger

§        Andy Ratermann

§        Nic Staley

§        Ryan Shaffer

§        Andy Malarkey

Bench

§        Ryan Debrosse

§        Brandon Brandewie

§        Lee Nickol

§        Chip Thompson

The 1998-99 Lehman Boys Basketball Team had way more depth, more big’s and perimeter guys. They had guys who could play any position. Justin was a better player than Sam was, Tony S was better than Nic, Tony C was better than Andy. I think the 1998-99 team beats the 2002-03 team by 15-20 points, easily.

2006-07: Mike Piatt’s best team and Lehman’s best team since 1994-95, Henry Stolly’s first season. Two of their five seniors played in a district final as sophomores. Coming off a 11-10 season where they started 1-8 and won 10 of their last twelve games, losing to eventual Regional Finalist Houston in the first round of the tournament. Four senior starters, Tony Riess, Brent Schlater, Kevin Sargeant, Doug Westerheide and a sophomore Zac Schmitz. Tyler Cianciolo, Spencer Peltier Dayon Pearson and Collin Kinsella rounded off the bench for the Cavaliers. They started off 4-4 and then won their next 14. They beat Anna, Fort Loramie, Botkins, Triad, Troy Christian, Jackson Center, Houston, Marion Local. This was a team on a mission. They had the look of a state champion. They made it to the district final and went up against Cincinnati Lockland. Things looked great for the Cavaliers. They led at the half by seven and at the end of three by fourteen thanks to a buzzer beater by Brent Schlater.

Lehman had been plagued by blowing double digit leads in tournament games in the past and history came back to bite them once again on this night. Lockland trimmed the lead to nine by the time the Cavaliers got the ball to their side of the court. Lockland took advantage of Lehman mistakes in the fourth quarter. Tony Riess missed a driving layup with 1:30 left that would have put us up by six and put the game out of reach. Kevin Sargeant had two free throws to put us up three with 20 seconds left made one missed one. Lockland missed a shot and made a putback to tie the game. Spencer Peltier missed a three from the top of the key and Spencer was a fine athlete, good kid and all however I still question that shot and play drawn up at the end of regulation. Kevin Sargeant was open on one wing and Zac was open on the other. The game went into overtime and we were history. Lockland scored the first four points and we were done.  A month later, Mike Piatt was relived of his duties as Lehman Head Coach.

        2008-09: The 2008-09 Lehman Basketball team was tabbed District Championship or Bust prior to the season. Six seniors, five of whom went Undefeated in Junior High; Zac Schmitz, Dan Westerheide, Nathan Horstman, Max Cartwright and Brian Adams and Piqua native Corbin Peltier. David Freytag, David Spearman, Ross Moore, Caleb Goins and Jon Slagle Rounded out the roster. The team went undefeated at home. Won the Buckeye Insurance Tournament Championship in Piqua and earned the #1 seed in the Piqua Sectional. After Struggling against Triad in the opener, Lehman blitzed Botkins in the semis and set up a date with Mechanicsburg in the Sectional Championship. Lehman raced past the Indians to head back to UD Arena for their 3^rd district championship game in five years. The Cavaliers took on Summit Country Day in the District Final and fell short of their goal losing 53-50.