Basketball coaches often talk about the importance of their teams playing at their own pace. They call it controlling the tempo. Many of them will tell you they need to control the tempo of certain games or risk losing.

That’s usually true to one degree or another. However, for Rob Pisano and his Lakeside boys basketball team, setting the pace of a Division I district semifinal contest with Mentor could be a matter of tournament life and death.

“We’re trying to eliminate the 25-30 points they get off of the fast break,” Pisano said. “They’re trying to wear you down. They’ll be up six, and there will be a three- or four-minute spurt you turn the ball over or go cold, and they’re up 18 and the game is over. The game is over because they’re too good a team to give up a lead like that.

“What they do is wear you down until you have that three- or four-minute spurt and then they jump on you. They get three or four quick steals and all of a sudden you’re down 18. We’re trying to avoid that.”

The third-seeded Dragons (18-4) and top-seeded Cardinals (19-3) will tip off at Euclid tonight at 7. The winner will play second-seeded Brush at 7 p.m. Saturday for the district championship. The Arcs beat fourth-seeded Shaw, 75-60, in the first district semifinal at Euclid.

The reason the Dragons want to control the speed at which the game is played is simple — Mentor likes to play fast, likes to pressure its opponents to wear them down and likes to get as many easy buckets as possible.

The Cardinals know if they force Lakeside to play fast, it could be a long night for the Dragons. But if Lakeside controls the pace, the Cardinals don’t feel they’re at a terrible disadvantage.

“If the game is at our tempo, we feel we’ll do well,” coach Bob Krizancic said. “We’re fairly successful in the running game. If the game gets into half-court mode, I like our guard play. I think our biggest advantage is we have two guards that have started for three years. The biggest thing is we take care of the ball. We’ve had 58 wins in the last three years. I feel really good having them on the floor.”

“We prefer to run, but we’ve been in games in the 60s and 70s where we played in the half-court. We have smart guards that go for the high-percentage shot. The three guards are our leading scorers. We prefer to play up-tempo.”

“I would say that, 100 percent of the time, we use the press,” Krizancic said. “We’ll use the man-to-man press and the zone press. We do want to run.”

Lakeside is no stranger to having to be the team to control the tempo in a game this season. The Dragons had to do the same thing in a 51-49 quadruple-overtime loss to University at home and a 51-50 loss at Cardinal Mooney.

“I’ve tried to tell the team that we’ve played teams like this before,” Pisano said. “Or at least along the lines of Mentor. We’ve been in tight games, so we should handle the pressure well if it’s close.

“Our best references are University and Mooney and in both games, I think we forced them to play our tempo, we lost 51-49 in four overtimes and 51-50 on Mooney’s home floor. We even had the ball with a chance to win against Mooney at the end.”

Despite being on the wrong end of the score in each of those matchups, the Dragons did manage to play those games at the pace they wanted. And, more importantly, Lakeside has played up when the level of competition has been raised.

“In the big games, we seem to play better this year,” Pisano said. “Going into games that should be easy seems to be where we struggle, like the Riverside game (to end the season). We were snowed out that Friday and couldn’t play, then the guys sat around all day that Saturday. I don’t think they cared if we played the game or not.”

So how, exactly, do the Dragons think they can control the tempo against the Cardinals? Well, the answer is locked away safely with Pisano and his players. But the Dragons do have a plan.

“We do have a gameplan,” Pisano said. “But we’re trying to hide it a little bit. We do have a strategy... a certain way we play.”

“A lot of teams try (to control the pace),” Krizancic said. “We can be patient and be smart and not rush. We always want to have the high-percentage shots. If you’re going to guard us, you have to spread the floor and that might open it up for our bigger guys. We started 14-0. Teams have tried various defenses against us. We’re able to do things well enough to win games.”

Lakeside will use primarily seven players, but if Pisano needs to, he can use as many as nine players. But depth should not be an issue. At least not if the game goes according to his plans.

“That’s part of the reason we want to control the tempo,” Pisano said. “If the score gets into the 80s and 90s, we’re in trouble. We don’t score that many points. They do. If it’s in that range, we will be tired.

“He has guys on his bench that would start for most schools. He goes 10 deep. I don’t think (the depth of our bench) will be a factor if we keep the tempo like we did against Mooney and University. If we don’t play our tempo, our depth is not going to matter. If the game gets up in the 70s, 80s or 90s, it means we’re playing their pace and we will lose by 20 or 25, if not more.”

Starting for the Dragons will be Rashaad Bell (6.4 points, 5.4 rebounds per game), Khalil Chatman (6.6 points, 4.9 assists), Cody Blizzard (13.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.0 assists), Emilio Parks (23.7 points, 14.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 4.2 blocks) and Brendan Hester (6.3 points). Off the bench will be Emonte Parks, Billy Downs, Harry Story and Adam Bahr.

Mentor is much deeper and in good shape.

“We want to wear other teams down,” Krizancic said. “It gives us a better chance on the boards. Usually, we have a big size disadvantage. The fast-break game helps us neutralize the big guys.”

“I’d like to think (that means we’re smart and in great shape),” Krizancic said. “The guards play the majority of the game and the others play about 14-22 minutes each. Our six, seven and eight players get a very good amount of time. On Day One in the program, we tell them we’re trying to be in better shape than anybody we play. That’s what we hope is an advantage for us.”

The Cardinals start guards Jaren Crowe (18.1 points, 3.3 rebounds, 6.0 assists, 1.4 steals, 72 total 3-pointers made), Justin Fritts (12.6 points, 5.1 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.7 steals, 38 3-pointers) and Cole Krizancic (26.6 points, 2.9 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.7 steals, 68 3-pointers) and forwards Cameron Aloisio (8.0 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.1 steals) and Matt Solden (8.7 points, 4.5 rebounds). Coming off the bench will be Matt Freeman, Ryan Rowe and Tom Strobel.

Emilio Parks has been the offensive leader all season for the Dragons, but Blizzard will also have to carry a big part of the load.

“Cody has got to get 18 (points),” Pisano said. “Emilio will get his regular night. The guards have to handle the ball. They have to break the pressure and get the ball to the half-court. Then we have to attack.”

“We’ve seen them play the last three games against Riverside, North and Geneva,” Krizancic said. “We know they’re athletic. They’re 18-4 and that’s pretty solid. (Parks) presents a lot of problems. But we think our guards are quicker. Blizzard has looked good in the games we’ve seen.”