DeSales High School boys basketball coach Blair Albright thinks his team has just as good a chance to win a Division II district championship as it does of losing in its first tournament game.

The Stallions are coming off a weekend that symbolized much of their season. They defeated Ready 48-31 on Feb. 10, but the next night went just 8-for-22 from the foul line — missing 11 in a row at one point — and committed 14 turnovers in a 44-39 loss to Zanesville.

“Unfortunately, we’re not just playing tournament-ready basketball yet,” said Albright, whose team is 8-10 overall and 2-5 in the CCL. “We played well enough the whole game (against Zanesville) to have a shot, but we’re our own worst enemy right now. I really think we’re improving É but we’re still not doing little things well enough to feel like we can do what we hope to do in this tournament. That has to change.”

Seeded 14th in the district, DeSales plays eighth-seeded Buckeye Valley in the first round at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 22, at Heath. Buckeye Valley, which enters its regular-season finale Friday, Feb. 17, against Caledonia River Valley at 13-6 overall and 10-2 in the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference-Red Division, clinched the league title with a 101-42 win over Morral Ridgedale on Feb. 11 and is averaging 52.5 points.

The Barons returned four starters, including 6-foot-1 junior guard Jordan Tomlinson, who is averaging a team-high 16.3 points and 3.5 assists.

“They shoot the ball really well,” Albright said. “They beat Watterson early in the year (55-48 on Dec. 13), so that says something. They’re very sound, very fundamental and they can really, really shoot. That said, we hope our athleticism can bother them and that our guys can come to play a really good game.”

The winner plays fifth-seeded Licking Heights in a second-round game at 7:45 p.m. March 1 at Heath. The Stallions wouldn’t see top-seeded Jonathan Alder until a district final.

“The draw sets up that if we play to our potential, there’s nothing we can’t do,” Albright said. “The bracket we’re in, we were able to avoid Hartley, Watterson and Brookhaven. We can win a district championship, but we could also lose in the first round. Can we execute the fine details? If we can, we can do well.”

•As disappointing as the girls basketball team’s final regular-season home game was, it might have made the Stallions’ league accomplishments even more impressive.

The Stallions lost 31-22 to visiting Hartley on Feb. 8 but still managed to earn a share of the CCL championship. DeSales and Watterson both finished 6-2 in the league, with the Stallions handing the Eagles both of their losses.

It’s the first league championship for DeSales since it shared the CCL title with Ready in 2006-07, when both teams went 7-1. The Stallions went 4-4 in the league last season to finish third behind Watterson (7-1) and Hartley (6-2).

“That’s really big for us,” senior guard Tyler Craig said of the league championship. “It stinks that we weren’t able to outright win it, but being co-champs is a really big accomplishment. Our schedule is one of the hardest in the state, so this is a big accomplishment for us.”

DeSales defeated Watterson 36-25 on Jan. 7 and 45-33 on Feb. 4.

Watterson secured its share of the title by defeating Columbus School for Girls 69-17 on Feb. 11. Rounding out the league standings were Hartley (5-3), Ready (3-5) and CSG (0-8).

“We talked from the beginning of the year that our goal was to be CCL champs and district champs and we accomplished our first goal,” coach Brian Cromwell said. “It’s a share and it hurts because we had a chance to win it outright, but we’re CCL champs and sharing that with Watterson, another great program. Moving forward, we have to get back to doing what we’ve been doing.”

DeSales, which closed the regular season Feb. 11 with a 51-37 win over Chillicothe Unioto to improve to 13-7 overall, begins Division II district tournament play at 7:45 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 16, against Licking Heights at Delaware. The Stallions are seeded seventh in the district.

The winner plays River Valley in a second-round game at 7:45 p.m. Feb. 24 at Delaware.

DeSales lost 55-40 to Hilliard Bradley in a district semifinal last year after advancing to a regional semifinal in 2010 before losing 47-35 to Dayton Chaminade Julienne.

Craig believes winning a CCL title takes the kind of perseverance needed to make a postseason run.

“You always see teams from this league making it far in tournaments,” she said. “It’s one of the toughest leagues in central Ohio and it’s always an accomplishment to win one of them. But we have to let go of this (loss to Hartley) and move on. It’s time to regroup.”

•The hockey team’s stay in the Blue Jackets Cup was short-lived, as it lost 10-2 to Dublin Jerome in a first-round game Feb. 9. Joe Gray scored both goals, goaltender Ben Risinger had three saves and goalie Roberto Bahensky had 23.

It was DeSales’ second loss to Jerome in less than a week, as the Celtics won the team’s first meeting of the season 5-4 on Feb. 3. Despite the tournament result, coach Bob Heine was optimistic entering the postseason that the team has turned heads after its Capital Hockey Conference-Blue Division championship.

“We’re certainly not the team we were last year,” said Heine, whose team is 20-11-1 overall and finished 9-6-0-1 in the CHC. “I’d like to continue to play the Jeromes, (Cincinnati) Moellers and some of the other established programs on a regular basis.”

If the Stallions win their first two district tournament games, they might see Jerome again. DeSales will play Springboro in a first-round game at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 17, at the OhioHealth Ice Haus. The winner will play eighth-seeded St. Charles in a second-round game at 6 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 18, at the Ice Haus, with that winner advancing to play top-seeded Jerome or Gahanna in a district quarterfinal at 1:30 p.m. Feb. 25 at the Ice Haus.

DeSales, which did not play Springboro during the regular season, lost 9-1 to St. Charles on Dec. 16. The Stallions were 1-0-1 against Gahanna, winning 6-3 on Dec. 18 and tying the Lions at 2 on Dec. 3 during the Kilbourne Invitational.

•Eight members of the swimming and diving teams will participate in individual events in the Division II district meet Friday, Feb. 17, at Ohio State. The Stallions also will be represented by five relays.

Competing for the boys team will be Eddy Cordek in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle, Coleman McKinny in the 50 free and 100 backstroke, Nathan Yoder in the 200 individual medley and 100 breaststroke, Riley Savage in diving, the 200 medley relay and the 200 free relay.

Competing for the girls will be Suzanne Hrabowy in the 50 and 100 free, Anne Marie Cummins in the 100 butterfly and 100 back, Abbey Moonis in the 500 free, Sarah Richards in diving, the 200 medley relay, the 200 free relay and the 400 free relay.

The top two finishers in each swimming event, the top finisher in boys diving and the top three finishers in girls diving earn automatic berths to the state meet, which runs Feb. 22-24 at Branin Natatorium in Canton. In addition, 16 at-large state berths in each swimming event will be awarded based on times statewide.

•The wrestling team will compete in a Division II sectional tournament Saturday, Feb. 18, at Big Walnut with the host Golden Eagles, Brookhaven, Buckeye Valley, Centennial, Columbus South, Jonathan Alder, Lakewood, Marion-Franklin, Sparta Highland, Utica, Watterson and Whitehall.

The top four individuals in each weight class advance to the district tournament Feb. 24 and 25 at Uhrichsville Claymont.

In the CCL tournament Feb. 11, DeSales scored 114 points to place fourth behind Hartley (191.5), Ready (180.5) and St. Charles (152.5) and ahead of Watterson (16.5). Winning league titles were R.J. Martin (132 pounds) and Emmanuel Mawutor (220).