Members of the Dublin Scioto High School boys basketball team probably be lying if they said they expected to face unseeded Hilliard Davidson in a Division I district semifinal Saturday at the Fairgrounds Coliseum.

The seventh-seeded Irish had foreseen a different opponent, but sometimes the postseason can bring the unforeseen.

"We thought we'd be playing (fourth-seeded Westerville South), but Davidson has been starting to come on as of late," said post player Clark Crum, who scored 15 points last Saturday as the seventh-seeded Irish beat Whetstone 61-34 in the second round after having a first-round bye. "The fact that they're not a seeded team doesn't mean anything. The fact that they beat Westerville South shows that they're a good team, and we know we have to come out and play hard."

A 45-43 upset of South last Saturday marked the eighth win in nine games for Davidson, which improved to 15-7 overall and finished second in the OCC-Buckeye Division at 7-3 behind Reynoldsburg (10-0).

Davidson's Drew Kambic drove the lane in the final seconds. Instead of taking the shot himself, he found an open Ryan McGuire, who made a layup with two seconds to play.

South, an OCC-Capital Division co-champion, finished 16-5.

"I've talked before about how I believe there are three teams (the top three seeds of Lancaster, Brookhaven and Reynoldsburg) who are heads and tails above everybody else in the district," said coach Tony Bisutti, whose team is 14-7.

"After that, I feel there's enough (parity) among the remaining teams that it's going to come down to who executes, and obviously Davidson did that."

The winner Saturday will play third-seeded Reynoldsburg or fifth-seeded Upper Arlington in a district final March 11.

The Irish last appeared in a district final in 2003 when they lost to Newark 50-38. They never have won a district championship.

Scioto last met Davidson in the opening round of the postseason in 2003 and won 62-55 before eventually falling to Coffman 33-27 in a district semifinal.

The Wildcats' leaders are seniors Tristan Welch (6-foot-2 guard), Kambic (6-2 guard), Donnie Curtis (6-2 forward), Travis Welch (6-2 forward) and McGuire (6-3 center).

"They're senior-led team that plays hard and are well-coached," guard Kelly Winter said. "They have about four guards or wing players, so they might be hard for us to defend. They'll probably try and pack it in on Clark, so we're going to have to hit some shots on the outside the challenge their zone."

Bisutti sees a resemblance in Davidson's style of play
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"They're probably a little more physical than we are, but I think we pose each other some matchup problems," he said. "I expect it's going to be tough for both teams to score."

The Wildcats have been sound defensively since the end of December, and likely had their best defensive performance of the season in the 49-29 win over St. Charles in the tournament opener Feb. 21.

Scioto didn't let Whetstone's slow-paced offense deter its game plan last Saturday, although the Irish, who led 21-15 at halftime, needed a 10-0 run in the third quarter to break open a close game.

"I think our press got us going and got them out of their mode of trying to run some clock and got them playing quicker than they wanted to," said Bisutti, whose teams have defeated Whetstone seven consecutive times, including 55-20 on Dec. 23.

Whetstone made nearly 32 percent of its shots from the field and was outrebounded 29-22. Scioto was 2-for-12 from 3-point range, but was 11-for-12 from the free-throw line and shot nearly 65 percent from the field.