by For the six seniors at Brecksville-Broadview Heights Bees, the memory never really went away.
A year ago, their season ended in gut-wrenching fashion against Shaker Heights Raiders in the OHSAA Division II Boys Basketball Tournament. Missed free throws. A narrow defeat. And a locker room filled with players wondering what could have been.
Thursday night provided the answer.
Behind a sensational performance from senior guard Steven Skaljac and a gritty defensive effort from senior big man Ben Mehendale, the Bees exorcised some of those postseason demons with a hard-fought playoff victory over the Olmsted Falls Bulldogs, keeping their season alive and moving one step closer to a regional title.
For Skaljac, the moment carried a deeper meaning.
The senior guard, whose older brother Luke Skaljac now plays for the undefeated Miami RedHawks men’s basketball after starring for the Bees, said seeing what Miami is going through has helped fuel the team all season.
“We talk about that all the time,” Skaljac said after the game. “It’s really a vibe that we really energize ourselves with. It feels like the spirit of the RedHawks is running through our locker room.”
Skaljac backed up those words with one of the biggest performances of his career. The senior caught fire early, drilling deep three-pointers throughout the first half and setting the tone offensively.
By the time the final buzzer sounded, Skaljac had poured in a game-high 25 points, many of them coming in the opening two quarters when Brecksville-Broadview Heights built the cushion it would need to survive a late push.
“I thought Steven was amazing tonight,” Bees head coach Steve Mehalik said postgame. “Coming from a year ago where him and Ben missed crucial free throws in a game where we lost, today he was huge for us.”
But the redemption story didn’t belong to Skaljac alone.
Senior forward Ben Mehendale — another player haunted by last season’s loss — delivered when his team needed toughness the most.
“That loss last year left a bad taste in six seniors’ mouths,” Mehendale said. “We had to make things right.”
Mehendale finished with 11 points, but his impact extended well beyond the stat sheet. His interior defense and rim protection repeatedly disrupted Olmsted Falls’ offense, drawing praise from his head coach afterward.
“Ben was amazing versus a really good Olmsted Falls team tonight,” Mehalik said. “That was a really good team and Ben stepped up when we needed him the most.”
The Bees’ game plan centered on controlling the opening moments of each half. During preparation, Mehalik emphasized the importance of the first four minutes of the first and third quarters — stretches that ultimately proved decisive.
His team responded.
Brecksville-Broadview Heights dominated those key windows, outscoring the Bulldogs 26–16 across the two periods combined and seizing momentum early in both halves.
Still, Olmsted Falls refused to fade quietly.
Junior guard Grant Hrabnicky kept the Bulldogs within striking distance in the first half, knocking down a pair of three-pointers to trim the deficit to nine. In the third quarter, sophomore guard Keegan Smith hit two clutch threes that cut the Bees’ lead to just two points, sending tension rippling through the gym.
Every time the Bulldogs made a run, Skaljac answered.
The drama only intensified in the fourth quarter when junior guard Mason Cerovac heated up from beyond the arc, burying multiple three-pointers that briefly gave Olmsted Falls a late one-point lead.
For the Bees, it felt eerily similar to the collapse that ended their season a year ago.
But this time, the ending was different.
Instead of missed opportunities at the line, Mehendale and Skaljac calmly knocked down clutch free throws in the closing moments, sealing the victory and sending Brecksville-Broadview Heights into the regional semifinal.
The pair earned Kee-On Player of the Game honors, with Skaljac finishing with 25 points and Mehendale contributing 11 points along with several key blocks.
Now the Bees turn their attention to the next challenge.
They’ll await the winner between the Riverside Beavers of Painesville and archrival North Royalton Bears, who square off for the other regional semifinal spot.
