Mentor Beats Hoover, Will Meet Shaker In Regional Finals

When the Mentor boys basketball team have faced Shaker Heights this season, it has gone Shaker's way.

Twice the Cardinals squandered 17-point leads against the Raiders.

But Mentor (22-5) will get the rematch it craves when they meet Shaker Heights 7 p.m. Saturday with a spot in the Division I state final four on the line.

The Cardinals are playing in their third regional final in four years.

To get there, the they topped North Canton Hoover 60-46 during a regional semi Wednesday at Cleveland State University's Wolstein Center.

Hoover led early, scoring the game's first seven point. But Mentor replied with an 18-0 run and were never seriously threatened again.

Jeff Foreman led the charge, hitting five 3-pointers in the first half and finishing with a team-high 19 points.

Conner Krizancic didn’t score in the first half but notched 13 of the Cardinals’ 25 points after halftime.

Michael Gallagher also provided some big support off the bench. He scored 11 points in the first half as Mentor raced out to a 35-21 lead at half time.

“Today, Coach said coming off the bench I needed to give the team a bunch of energy, so I came in not nervous at all and I was glad I could do my part,” Gallagher said to Ohio Varsity.

When the game was over, the talked turned to the Shaker Heights matchup.

“You never want to look ahead, and we didn’t because Hoover is such a solid team and they do so much well, but once Shaker won Saturday and we won, it was out there and you couldn’t hide from it,” Coach Bob Krizancic told Ohio Varsity. “Now that it is here, I am actually glad we lost twice. … We are ready.”

Meanwhile, Foreman had two words to describe Saturday's matchup.

Unfinished business,” he said. “That’s what this comes down to for us.”