After losing their top six players to graduation, the Southern Bulldogs went through a classic rebuilding process this season.
But while Southern took its lumps against the city's top competition, coach Meredith Smith's team also steadily improved along the way.
Last night at Woodlawn, the ninth-ranked Bulldogs and star forward John Hemsley showed that they're quite capable of building toward something else -- a third straight state championship.
The 6-foot-5 Hemsley dominated the undersized Warriors all night, erupting for 47 points to lead Southern to a 105-79 victory.
The sixth-seeded Bulldogs (12-9) advance to tomorrow's regional semifinal game at second-seeded and third-ranked Walbrook -- a team that has defeated them twice this season.
If Hemsley has a repeat performance, however, there probably won't be a third defeat.
The junior did the majority of his damage on the inside, scoring off rebounds and helping to keep the bulk of Woodlawn's offense on the perimeter.
"If we play like we played tonight, with good defense and fundamentals, we can win another state championship," said Hemsley. "We just wanted to play our game -- run up and down the court and play the passing lanes."
But the Bulldogs also played erratically at times, leaving the door open for an equally young and eager Woodlawn team that kept things close in the early going.
Led by Kevin Parsons (17 points) and Karl Sorrell (15), Woodlawn (17-6) hit eight of its first 11 shots in taking a 19-17 lead after the first 5:51.
But when the Warriors went cold from the outside, Southern began to take command of the game.
With Hemsley and Dedric Galloway (25 points) leading the way, the Bulldogs went on an 11-4 run to end the first quarter, then scored the first nine points of the second quarter to go ahead, 37-23.
"What hurt us was we didn't play good defense," said first-year Woodlawn coach Dan Hewins. "It turned into an NBA game where everyone was scoring on every trip.
"When we stopped scoring, that was it."
Woodlawn did attempt a late comeback, pulling to within 10, at 80-70, on Kevin Parsons' three-pointer with 5:34 left, but Southern proved too much down the stretch.
Though not happy with his team's overall execution, Southern's Smith said he was pleased with the win.
"You've got to be happy with a 26-point win," said Smith, who said he thinks his team, with two seniors, can make another run at the title.
"I think we've made a tremendous amount of progress," said Smith. "This team is capable of playing with anybody in town, but we have to learn how to put together four good quarters."
Said Hewins: "They're bigger, stronger, older and better."