HARTLAND - The Huron High School half of the green-clad fans at Hartland High School celebrated into the St. Patrick's Day night.

Green being the primary color for both Huron and Novi was about the only similarity between the teams playing in a Class A regional championship game. The bigger, stronger and faster River Rats coasted to a 63-38 win.

The win earned Huron its first regional title since 1989 and its athletic director, Dottie Davis, handed out medals and a trophy as River Rat fans stood and applauded.

“Our program over the years has had success locally, but I think when you win a regional you put yourself in a class with state-wide programs,” Huron coach Waleed Samaha said.

“We’re going to find out now if we belong there. When you compete with the final eight teams, you’re at an elite level and you’re going to play some great teams.”

More Coverage: This Story & Photo Gallery on MLive.com | Boxscore | Class A Bracket

Huron (21-4) will face Saginaw Arthur Hill (16-9) and USC-bound point guard Maurice Jones in a March 23 quarterfinal at Grand Blanc High School. Arthur Hill beat Mount Pleasant 69-49 on Wednesday.

Arthur Hill’s record is a bit deceiving. The No. 4-ranked team in the final Class A poll of the regular season forfeited seven games played early this season for using an ineligible player.

There was nothing deceiving about Huron’s dominance on Wednesday night. The River Rats took quick control of the game, leading 13-2 after six minutes of play.

It was an ensuing lapse that kept Huron coach Waleed Samaha from shouting “erin go bragh” from the sidelines.

“Not unhappy, just not satisfied. And none of our guys are satisfied,” Samaha said of his stoic posture throughout most of the regional title game. “It was a tough game to stay intense for when you jump out 13-2.

“We wanted to come out and really assert ourselves right away, and the kids did that. Then we took our foot off the pedal a little.”

The Wildcats got as close as six points with a scoring flurry midway through the second quarter, but Huron closed the half on a 10-2 run for a 30-16 halftime lead. During that stretch, which Samaha called the most important of the game, Jesse Buchbaum and Jalen Bouma both came up with diving steals that turned into fast break points.

Any hopes for a second-half comeback that Novi conjured up during halftime were quickly dashed when A.J. Mathew opened the third quarter with a 3-pointer from the wing and Dante Williams followed that with a dunk on a baseline drive.

The River Rat lead would hover around 20 for most of the third quarter and get stretched to 52-26 going into the fourth, when Samaha emptied his bench.

“Even though it was one of our sloppier games, you can’t not be happy,” Mathew said. “At the end of the day, I think we did alright. But we weren’t playing our usual style, didn’t have as much intensity as we usually have, but you can’t complain about a regional championship.”

Novi’s biggest blow may have come before tipoff, when the Wildcats’ best player, Samer Ozeir, was standing courtside in dress clothes and his arm in a sling. The 6-foot-8 junior, who averaged 16.0 points and 9.5 rebounds, was injured in Monday’s regional semifinal win over Walled Lake Northern.

Mathew led the River Rats with 14 points and six rebounds. Jalen Bouma’s 10 points was the only other double-digit total for Huron, which had 12 different players score.

Chris Moloni led Novi with eight points.

Rich Rezler covers high school sports for AnnArbor.com. Contact him at 734-623-2553 or richrezler@annarbor.com.