Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes Mooney senior Thomas Fire tosses up a layup in between a pair of defenders during the second half.

The Cardinal Mooney and Springfield boys basketball teams are hoping to be playing vastly different styles in their respective Division III regional semifinals tonight at Twinsburg High School.

The Cardinals (17-4) are looking to slow the pace against a very quick Cleveland Heights Lutheran East (12-3) squad in a 5:30 p.m. tipoff. The Tigers (18-4) will try to speed up a sizable lineup in Norwayne (22-4) during their game, which is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m.

The winners will meet at 5 p.m. Saturday at Twinsburg for the regional title and state berth.

“They are very talented and athletic, plus they’re long,” Mooney coach Carey Palermo said of the Falcons. “They’ve got a big 6-(foot)-8 kid, Jalin Billingsley, who is a Georgetown signee. But they also have several guards and shooting guards who are 6-2 or better and very quick. They can shoot it from the perimeter.

“But the No. 1 thing you see about them is that they score bunches in transition.”

The Falcons have scored at least 92 points in the past three games, including hitting triple-digits twice.

B.J. Busbee, Jalen Knott, Sirr Williams and Jordan Cannon display quickness on both ends of the floor, turning turnovers into points.

“If you let them dictate and intimidate, they can turn it into a long night,” Palermo said. “We need to defend as one, make sure we’re communicating. We need to have no live-ball turnovers and limit our turnovers overall. Plus, we need to keep them off the offensive glass and limit their second-chance points.”

The Cardinals, who have won eight in a row, have the most wins at Mooney since 2010. They are in the regional for the second time since 1998 and the first time since 2013.

Mooney hopes to counteract that chaotic quickness with a patient offense.

“We want to run our offense, but be patient enough to take our shots,” Palermo said. “They tend to speed their opponents up, where they’re taking quick shots that are out of the flow of the offense and they’re rushing those shots (in their form).

“Defensively, we’ll do some pressing and trapping and then get back and ready to play half-court defense. We definitely will do what we can to make it a half-court game rather than a track meet.”

The Cardinals are led by seniors Michael Pelini (21 points, 10 rebounds per game) and Thomas Fire (14 points, 3 steals). Junior Mick Hergenrother averages 13.5 points, 4.5 assists and three steals. They are followed by juniors Jack Pepperney (5 ppg) and Drew Pecchia (3 points, 5 rebounds).

“We’ll need our bench to step up, too, like they have all season,” Palermo said. “James Campbell, Jack Phillips, Jack Desmond, Jaxon Menough and Zach Hryb have played vital minutes all season.”

Springfield is making its second regional appearance in three seasons, and the Bobcats will be familiar to many of the Tigers.

In football, Springfield beat Norwayne 52-48 in a remarkable Division VI, Region 21 final last November.

“We have a lot of guys who play both sports here,” Springfield coach Steve French said. “It’s Division III, so I’m sure they do as well. Plus, they were in the (basketball) regional last year. Neither team is going to be afraid to play on this stage.

“This is our second trip to the regional in three years and we were in the district final last year. Beau (Brungard), Adam (Wharry) and Clay (Medvec) were starters two years ago and R.J. (Smith) and Lukas (Yemma) played significant minutes.”

Smith (14.7), Wharry (14), Brungard (12), Alex Rothwell (11.6) and Medvec (10) all average double-digit scoring for the Tigers. Rothwell averages 10.4 rebounds and Wharry averages 5.3 rebounds and 4.7 assists. Brungard averages 3.2 assists.

“It’s pretty rare to find five starters all scoring in double digits in high school, but it’s a great things because it proves we have balance and share the ball,” French said. “We’ll need that in the regional,

“Norwayne has great size from 6-6 to 6-3 and all of the starters are above 6-feet. They even have a 6-4 kid coming off the bench. They start two centers and have strong high-low passing and we start five guards, so it’s going to be interesting.”

Augmenting the Bobcats’ bigs are guards Isaiah Portis and Justin Rupp, who made seven 3-pointers in a district semifinal.

“We want to press them and trap them in situations and get into our transition game,” French said. “We want to attack them before their bigs get set up in their half-court defense. And if we can’t score, maybe we can get them crossed-matched, where we might have an advantage with a big covering one of our guys on the wing.”

French also said team rebounding, especially on the defensive end, will play a vital role.

“We need to limit their opportunities,” he said. “In addition to the big guys, they have some athletes with length. So we’re going to have to find a way to get rebounds.”