Take care of business and business will take care of you.

The Orange Pioneers held off a stubborn Hayes Pacer team 54-50 in Ohio Capital Conference Capital Division action Friday on the first senior night at Orange High School, then received the surprise of their year as New Albany knocked off Mount Vernon, giving the Pioneers a share of the OCC Capital title.

Free throws proved Orange’s (16-3, 12-2 OCC Capital) savior and Hayes’ (11-9, 8-6) downfall. The Pioneers and Pacers both attempted 21 free tosses, but Orange hit 15 of its tries while Hayes drained just five.

Orange used a 12-0 run early on to take a 14-4 lead on Hayes and kept the Pacers at arm’s length the rest of the half. The Pioneers led 17-11 at the end of the first quarter and jumped ahead 26-15 and 32-21 in the second before taking a 32-23 lead into the locker room at the half.

Hayes made a 7-2 run early in the third quarter, trimming the Orange lead to just four points, 34-30, but the Pioneers scored the final seven points of the quarter, shutting out the Pacers in the final five and half minutes of the period, to take a 41-30 lead into the final period.

Hayes made a valiant run in the final quarter, slowly clipping the Pioneer advantage down.

The Pacers scored the first seven points of the quarter to again drop Orange’s lead to four points, received a three-point play from sophomore Matt Bingaya with 1:48 left to cut the deficit to three, 46-43, then got a Bingaya jumper with 25 seconds to go to narrow the lead to two, 52-50.

But needing to foul, Hayes did so, and senior Zach Joseph hit two free throws with 20 seconds left for the final margin.

Hayes had the ball in those final seconds, but a stiff Pioneer defense kept the Pacers from getting off any kind of shot at all.

Senior Taylor Rieger had 17 points to lead the way for Orange. Senior Cameron Sheehan had a strong all-around game, closing with 15 points, five rebounds, two assists, three steals and a block.

Joseph added 10 points, eight coming from the foul line. Seniors Jason Hoskins and Bryce Agler also closed with five points each.

Bingaya led all scorers with 19 points for the Pacers, scoring 13 of Hayes’ 20 points in the final quarter. Bingaya also had eight rebounds and two steals.

Junior Nick Potter added 12 points for Hayes while fellow junior Braxton Coleman pumped in nine points and hauled down eight more boards. Coleman, however, was a microcosm of the Pacers’ free throw troubles, going just 1 for 12 from the stripe.

WESTERVILLE NORTH 62, OLENTANGY 39

The host Warriors pulled out to a double-digit lead over the Braves at the half, but a big third quarter sank any Olentangy hopes in a 23-point Ohio Capital Conference Cardinal Division loss Friday in Westerville.

Olentangy (5-15, 4-10 OCC Cardinal) stayed close in the opening period, trailing by just four points, but Westerville North (15-3, 11-3) used a 14-7 second quarter to extend its lead to 11 points, 26-15, at the half. The Warriors’ 22-8 third quarter gave them a 48-23 lead after three quarters and the rest was history.

Justin Gingery led the Braves with 10 points, but was the only Olentangy player to score in double figures. Stephen Walczak added eight points for the Braves and Ben-Michael Welch five points.

Olentangy opens Division II tournament play at 6:15 p.m. Tuesday, facing Columbus South at Centerburg High School.

WESTERVILLE SOUTH 81, LIBERTY 46

The Patriots fell behind by double digits in the opening quarter and finished as the Wildcats’ 20th and final regular-season victim in their 35-point Ohio Capital Conference Cardinal Division loss Friday in Westerville.

Liberty (10-10, 7-7 OCC Cardinal) was overwhelmed from the start by Westerville South (20-0, 14-0), the No. 10-ranked team in the state in Division I. The Wildcats led 21-8 after one quarter, and after the Patriots made a second quarter run to keep the deficit manageable, South outscored Liberty 43-24 in the final two quarters.

Matt Napier did the bulk of the work for Liberty, scoring a team-high 16 points. Jake Bischoff, Andy Yazrombek and Michael Fries followed with six points each, and Zack Michael and Will Cheesman added five points apiece.

The Patriots face off against Orange at 6:15 p.m. Wednesday in a Division I sectional semifinal at Worthington Christian High School’s Grace Family Center.

sports@delgazette.com