The Lakewood Rangers boys basketball team ended the first year of the coach John Silva era as sectional champions defeating Grafton Midview 48-41 to bring home the sectional crown before losing to crosstown rival St. Edward 63-48 in the Brecksville-Broadview Heights District Semifinal.

Lakewood entered tournament play as losers of six of their final eight regular season games but quickly regained their winning form against John Marshall. Forward Joseph Mastrodonato led all scores with 15 points as the Rangers cruised to a 66-35 victory. Junior Jay Toole came off the bench to score eight points in the fourth period, nearly equaling his scoring output for the entire regular season. Pat Barrett and Kevin Knab each scored 11 points in the win.

The Rangers used stifling defense and timely 3-point shooting to come from behind to beat Midview. The Middies held a 23-20 halftime lead but Lakewood out-scored thm 14-4 in the third period to take a 34-27 lead. Barrett led the Rangers' offensive outburst by draining a pair of 3-point shots. Barrett and Junior Dan Shannon were Lakewood's main outside shooters all season, each averaging more than one 3-pointer a contest. Knab, a 6'6" senior, grabbed 10 rebounds in the victory as the Rangers held Midview without a field goal for the first 12 minutes of the second half. Knab has been a leader for the Rangers on both ends of the court, all season, averaging 15.1 points and 7.3 rebounds in the regular season.

After earning a first-round bye as the top seeded team, St. Edward easily disposed of Parma 62-30 to improve their record to 17-4 and set up a rematch with Lakewood. On December 15th the Eagles defeated Lakewood 42-28 at Lakewood High School. St. Ed’s jumped out to a 20-13 lead after the first period and extended the 37-21 at the half by going on a 9-2 run after Lakewood coach John Silva was assessed a technical foul. Lakewood used their defense to key a second half run cutting the deficit to eight at 45-37 with 7:23 remaining in the ball game. Joshua Reagan came off the bench to lead the Rangers with 15 points. Despite not starting a game all season Reagan was second on the team in scoring, averaging 9.5 points a game. Mastrodonato had 4 steals in the losing effort for Lakewood.

The Rangers ended the season with an 11-12 record more than doubling their win total for the previous two seasons.