A day after the Licking Heights High School boys basketball team wrapped up the outright MSL-Cardinal Division title, junior guard John Righter celebrated by attending the semifinal games of the middle school’s league tournament.

“I remember being that age. I always looked up to the (varsity) players and thought it was cool when they came to see us play,” he said. “I wanted to give something back, too.”

The Hornets clinched a share of their first MSL-Cardinal championship since 2002-03 by winning 69-50 on Feb. 11 at Berne Union. They took to the road again Feb. 14 and raced to a 22-6 lead en route to a 70-44 victory at Millersport, ensuring they would finish alone atop the standings.

“One of the first things we did when I became coach here was get the fifth- and sixth-grade teams going, and John Righter was one of the kids playing in that group,” said coach Nathan Clark, whose team was 17-2 overall and 12-1 in the MSL-Cardinal before playing host to Fisher Catholic in the regular-season finale Feb. 17. “We just felt the need to add to our program at the younger levels.

“We were fortunate enough to have some other guys move in (to the district), and everything kind of came together. We set our sights on winning the league, definitely, and it’s been exciting to see that goal come to fruition.”

Against Millersport, the Hornets followed the script that had been so successful all season, smothering the Lakers with tenacious defense and pushing the ball up the floor at every opportunity.

Cameron Tennyson, the team’s only senior, limited Millersport’s Alton Frizzell to a season-low four points. Frizzell, who made only two of his 15 attempts from the field, was averaging 21.5 points entering the game.

“That’s our kind of basketball,” said Righter, who scored a game-high 17 points. “Cam and (Tyron) Pack have been tremendous on defense, and that gets us into our offense.”

Before playing Fisher Catholic, the Hornets had won eight consecutive games and 31 of 35 regular-season contests dating to December 2010.

The trick now, however, is sustaining that momentum until fifth-seeded Licking Heights opens the Division II district tournament by playing either eighth-seeded Buckeye Valley or DeSales on March 1 at Heath.

Clark said he had already seen the Stallions in person and was planning to watch their regular-season finale Feb. 18 at St. Paris Graham. He’ll also scout their first-round tournament game against Buckeye Valley at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 22, at Heath.

“Practice doesn’t hurt us. Our guys get better in practice,” Clark said. “We’ll find ways to keep the guys hungry until we play again. We’ll have some inner-squad scrimmages and things like that to keep the guys fresh.”

•The girls basketball team lost its opening game in the Division II district tournament to DeSales 47-15 on Feb. 16 at Delaware.

The Hornets, who had won three of their four previous games, trailed 27-8 at halftime. Dameras Whitlock scored eight points and Skyler Ortiz added three. Kelsey Albanese had 12 points to pace the Stallions, who improved to 14-7.

The Hornets finished 8-13 overall and 8-6 in the MSL-Cardinal to place fourth behind Liberty Union (14-0), West Jefferson (9-5) and Harvest Prep (9-5) and ahead of Fisher Catholic (7-7), Berne Union (7-7), Grandview (2-12) and Millersport (0-14).