SHELBY — The Whippets may be in uncharted waters, but the Longhorns have sailed these seas before.

Shelby and Lutheran West will meet at 4 p.m. Saturday at Bowling Green State University’s Stroh Center for the regional crown and a berth in next week’s Division II Final Four.

The Longhorns (24-2) are the defending regional champs and Division II state runners-up. Lutheran West fell to Akron Buchtel 51-49 in last year’s state championship game in Dayton.

Meanwhile, Shelby (24-2) is making its first appearance in a regional final since the 1956-57 season, when somebody named Larry Siegfried was the leading scorer. Siegfried went on to an All-American career at Ohio State, where he was part of the 1960 national championship team, then added five NBA titles as a member of the Boston Celtics.

Siegfried’s alma mater punched its ticket to the Elite Eight with a 59-50 win over longtime tournament nemesis Lima Shawnee in Thursday’s regional semifinals.

The Whippets raced to a 19-5 first-quarter lead and withstood an onslaught by Shawnee sophomore Beckett Bertke, who scored 41 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.

Shawnee cut Shelby’s lead to 43-41 with 6:11 remaining, but the Whippets answered thanks largely to Wright State recruit Alex Bruskotter and Ashland football recruit Issaiah Ramsey. The duo combined for 10 points during a critical four-minute stretch that gave Shelby a 53-43 advantage with about two minutes remaining.

“When they (Shawnee) went on that run, before that I was seeing driving lanes but I was passing it just to try and get movement,” Bruskotter said. “Once it got to two, I figured we needed to stretch the lead a little more and started attacking those driving lanes.”

A Mr. Basketball candidate and the Northwest District Co-Player of the Year in Division II, Bruskotter scored a team-high 17 points and swiped a dozen boards. Brayden DeVito added 13 points, while Casey Lantz scored 12 despite suffering an ankle injury late in the second quarter.

“It’s a credit to guys like him (Bruskotter) and the rest of our veteran group to just bounce back when we needed to,” Shelby coach Greg Gallaway said.

Lutheran West had little trouble in dispatching Toledo Central Catholic in Thursday’s early game. The Longhorns never trailed in the 54-30 victory.

Dylan Bartchak led Lutheran West with 12 points. Jayson Levis and Tino Yli-Junila each had 10 while Matt Meyer and Derek Fairley chipped in with seven points apiece in a well-balanced attack.

Levis, Meyer and Fairley were starters on last year’s state runner-up team, while Bartchak and Josh Meyer came off the bench. Those five players accounted for 39 of Lutheran West’s 49 points in last year’s championship game.

Lutheran West’s average margin of victory in its four tournament games is a jaw-dropping 30 points per contest. The Longhorns’ closest postseason encounter came in the district semifinals, a 65-44 win over Jefferson Area.

Three of Shelby’s four postseason victories have been decided by 10 points or less. The Whippets trailed Mansfield Senior at halftime of a district semifinal game before rallying for a 60-55 win, then held off late charges by Lexington in the district championship game and again Thursday against Shawnee.

Like Lutheran West, Shelby never trailed in the regional semifinals. The double-digit first-quarter lead provided enough cushion the rest of the way.

Another fast start would benefit the Whippets on Saturday.

“We knew, against a good team in a neutral environment, that’s something you’ve got to do,” Gallaway said. “Credit to our guys for getting off to a fast start.”