At this time in the summer of 1998

It was at this time in 1998 when the Lehman Boys Varsity Basketball team headed North to the University of Findlay team basketball camp. Lehman was still without a Head Coach, so my Dad; Ken Schlater took the team to Findlay for the weekend.

The Varsity Squad that weekend consisted of: Tommy Middleton, Kyle Goubeaux, Ben Kohlhorst, Bryan Tobe and Eric Hewitt (Seniors), Sam Mikolajewski, Ryan Ratermann, Tony Cianciolo, Tony Staley amd Jake Sinclair ( Juniors) and one sophomore Matt Hare.

We stayed in the dorms that weekend and we were warned if we did not bring any fans, it was gonna be very warm. We were glad we brought fans.

We played six games the first two days and played at 3 different venues: A Lego floor, Liberty Benton High School and Findlay's Basketball arena. We went 4-2 that first day wearing the previous years practice uniforms.

The next day, we played and wore some AAU uniforms. Our biggest test that day was playing some team from Toledo who had two 6'6" guys and we beat them by 10. We played our last game that night and midway through the 4th quarter, Matt Hare sprained his ankle. We went 5-1 that day and showed some major signs of what was to come during the 1998-99 Basketball season.

On Sunday, was tournament day. We wore the practice uniforms from the 1996-97 Basketball season. We made it to the finals of the tournament and went up against the Houston Wildcats on Liberty Bentons floor. With the score tied and time winding down, Tony Cianciolo drove down the lane and got fouled. He made the first free throw and missed the 2nd and Ryan Ratermann made the put back at the horn to secure the 3 point win. We were tournament champs.

I have been saying this all along and I will say it again. The 1998-99 Lehman Boys Basketball team was good enough to win a District Championship and they did not. The Lehman Basketball team went 10-11 in the 1998-99 season.

Just weeks after the Findlay Tournament, Lima Native Jerry Fries was hired as Basketball Coach. My Dad took the helm as the JV Basketball Coach and led the Junior Varsity Squad to the Southwest Rivers Conference Championship.