At this time in 1999

A First at Schlater Gymnasium It was about this time in 1999 that the Lehman Boys hosted Mercer County and MAC Power St. Henry in boys basketball. Jerry Fries was having a successful first season as Lehman Head Coach. Lehman was good: Tommy Middleton, Kyle Goubeaux, Bryan Tobe, Eric Hewitt and Ben Kohlhorst were seniors, Ryan Ratermann, Sam Mikolajewski, Tony Staley, Tony Cianciolo and Jake Sinclair were the juniors and Derrick Orlik and Matt Hare were sophomores. The game did not get off to a great start for Lehman, Ryan Ratermann sprained his ankle in pre-game warm ups. St. Henry jumped out to a 17 point lead in the 3rd quarter and then the Cavaliers went to the 3 pointer. Middleton, Goubeaux, Tobe, Cianciolo and Staley hit threes to help Lehman claw their way back into the game. St. Henry led Lehman by one late and Tommy Middleton got fouled on a drive to the basket with 12 seconds left. I remember St. Henry’s coach called time out to ice Tommy. Middleton calmly sank both free throws to give Lehman a one point lead. St. Henry came back down the court and defensive plays by Eric Hewitt and Sam Mikolajewski helped Lehman preserve a one point win. I have said this since 1999 and I will say this again. The 1998-99 Lehman Boys Basketball team was good enough to win a District Championship and they did not. Lehman fell in their first tournament game to Greenview 42-39 at UD.