Joe Hites delivered a reminder to his team before Friday's matchup with Groveport: Get to the glass.

Lancaster did just that in a 44-33 win against the Cruisers, grabbing 37 rebounds and limiting its opponent to one shot on countless possessions.

"They try to take you off the dribble and get into the lane," Hites said. "We said 'Let's dig our heels in and defend.' We had 10 total rebounds against Pickerington North (on Thursday), so we sent them a message. They responded really well."

Lancaster seemed in control nearly all night on Friday, even though its lead never grew to more than 12 points. The Gales put three players in double figures, and sophomore Caleb Hester delivered 12 points and eight rebounds to lead the way.

"It was nice to see Caleb with a smile on his face," Hites said. "When you see him get glimpses of what he's capable of, he looks like a kid with a new toy. He did well."

Hester delivered his biggest points in the second quarter, including scoring six of his team's first eight points in the period to increase the lead to 20-11.

Dylan Long went 6-for-6 from the line in the first half, and the Gales led 24-17 at the break.

Jared Wentz and Hester combined for nine of Lancaster's 11 points in the third quarter. Wentz's 3-pointer midway through the period made it 29-19, giving the Gales their first double-digit lead of the game.

Solid perimeter defense and a concerted effort on the boards helped limit Groveport to just three field goals in the third quarter. Lancaster (3-13, 2-11 Ohio Capital Conference Ohio Division) led 35-23 heading to the fourth.

"We haven't shot it particularly well for awhile," Cruisers coach Joe Rinkes said. "We just didn't get the boards. They did a good job of limiting us to one shot, and as a result we just didn't score."

The Gales weathered a scoring drought in the fourth quarter that allowed Groveport to narrow the gap. A 3-pointer by Mike Strayer pulled the Cruisers to 36-31 with 3 minutes, 17 seconds left in the game.

But Derek Bycofski snapped a nearly six-minute Lancaster dry spell by scoring his team's first field goal of the fourth at just the right time. The senior's bucket with 2:25 left made it 38-31, and Groveport (1-16, 1-12 OCC-Ohio) wouldn't get any closer the rest of the way.

"I thought we had one more run in us," Rinkes said. "But to their credit, they didn't allow that run to materialize."

Wentz and Long combined to sink six free throws in the final two minutes to help ice the victory.