The Licking Heights High School boys basketball team exorcised plenty of demons by rallying to defeat visiting West Jefferson 96-73 in a pivotal MSL-Cardinal Division game Feb. 7.

For starters, the Hornets avenged a 70-58 loss to the Roughriders on Jan. 6 that ended a seven-game winning streak to start the season. They also gave their rival a measure of payback for the numerous times West Jefferson has denied some of the school’s other squads a league title since joining the MSL-Cardinal in 2005-06, one of which came when the football team lost 28-14 to the Roughriders in Week 10 in 2007 when both were undefeated.

“They’ve had our number in a few sports, definitely,” coach Nathan Clark said.

However, Clark cautions that there still are two more league games remaining and the last thing his team wants is to stumble before the Division II district tournament gets under way.

“We’ve got to go finish it off,” Clark said.

The Hornets, who pushed their winning streak to six games and moved to the brink of their first league title since 2002-03, were 15-2 overall and alone in first place at 10-1 in the MSL-Cardinal before playing Berne Union on Feb. 11. Grandview had three MSL-Cardinal losses before Feb. 11, while the Roughriders, Millers-port and Fisher Catholic all had four.

The Hornets conclude the regular season with games at Millersport on Tuesday, Feb. 14, and at home against Fisher Catholic on Friday, Feb. 17. The draw meeting for the district tournament will be Sunday, Feb. 12, at Olentangy Liberty.

The Lakers, who lost 79-60 at Licking Heights on Jan. 12, present a challenge because of the size of their frontcourt. Moreover, junior guard Alton Frizzell brings experience to a backcourt run by point guard Rob Weldon, who was averaging 5.8 assists through 16 games.

“He can shoot lights out,” Clark said of Frizzell, who was averaging 22.2 points through 16 games. “And inside, they can go 6-6 and 6-5.

“That’s a team that can score a lot of points, too, so we’re going to have to score with them.”

The Irish, meanwhile, are one of the hottest teams in the league. Before playing Millers-port on Feb. 11, Fisher Catholic had won four consecutive MSL-Cardinal games dating to a 59-49 home loss to the Hornets on Jan. 21. That streak included a 71-63 victory over West Jefferson on Feb. 3 and a 53-50 win over Grandview on Jan. 24.

Like the Irish, the Hornets are continuing to improve.

They converted 11 of 25 3-point attempts against the Roughriders and held a 43-19 rebounding advantage. Darius Strickland had 16 points and 14 rebounds while Alex Murphy had 14 points with nine rebounds. Cameron Tennyson and Tyron Pack had six assists each, and Tennyson made six of the 3s while scoring a season-high 23 points. John Righter contributed four 3-pointers and scored a season-high 25 points, 10 of which came in the fourth quarter.

The Hornets trailed 37-33 late in the first half before a game-turning 10-0 run and outscoring West Jefferson 63-36 the rest of the way. The point total was Licking Heights’ highest of the season, one in which it was averaging 67.3 points through 17 games with an average margin of 17.3 points in 15 victories.

“I think we’re going to be a tough out (in the postseason),” Clark said. “We got out fast and won our first seven games, and I definitely think we’re a better team than that right now.”

•The girls basketball team has enjoyed a better second half of the regular season, but it didn’t help much when the brackets were set for the Division II district tournament.

The Hornets, who had won three consecutive games and six of nine dating to Jan. 3 before the regular-season finale Feb. 10 at Fisher Catholic, will meet seventh-seeded DeSales in a first-round game Thursday, Feb. 16, at Delaware. The winner plays Caledonia River Valley in the second round at 7:45 p.m. Feb. 24 at Delaware.

The Stallions were 12-7 overall and had won a share of the CCL title at 6-2 before playing Chillicothe Unioto in their regular-season finale Feb. 11. In the process, DeSales unseated four-time champion Watterson in the CCL.

Stallions coach Brian Cromwell isn’t taking much for granted when discussing the postseason, however.

“This district is going to be fun,” he said. “There are a lot of good teams in it. ... There are 10 or 12 teams that have the chance to really compete for the district (title). It’s always been a tough area.”

DeSales has been especially tough playing defense. Through 19 games, only six opponents had scored more than 41 points, and it had allowed 36 or fewer in 11 games. One of the team’s top players is senior guard Kelsey Albanese, who has signed to play softball at Ohio Dominican University.

The Hornets, who dropped eight of their first 10 games, were 8-11 overall and 8-5 in the MSL-Cardinal before playing Fisher Catholic.