ATHENS (Marion County Now) — Falling behind 14-0 in the first five minutes against a quality opponent usually results in defeat.
River Valley did just that as Maysville built an early lead and withstood several Viking comeback attempts for a 66-54 win in the Division IV regional championship Sunday afternoon at The Convocation Center on the campus of Ohio University.
“Nerves maybe. We had some decent looks that we missed. Everything was short. We turned the ball over. They beat us to the basket wide open. Things that we talked about, we just had about as bad a start as you can have and we had it,” said RV head coach Rodney Brown.
Maysville (25-3) advances to the state Final Four next week. River Valley ends a record-setting season at 24-3.
“We dug a big hole. Fought a little bit for a while. Dug a bigger hole. Fought super hard in the fourth quarter,” Brown added.
“We had a couple shots in the fourth quarter that if they would have went in would have been huge. We could have cut it to 5 one time. It just wasn’t our night and didn’t play well.”
The closest River Valley got was 8 points at 60-52 after Maysville had built a 53-32 lead after three quarters.
Brown credited the Panthers for their efforts.
“They’re good. They’re the defending state runners-up and have been here three straight years. They’ve got good players,” he said.
“They made plays. They were making plays when we weren’t. They were hitting shots. They weren’t rushed. When we were able to rush them a little bit, we had some success. We weren’t able to early. I was a little disappointed early on that we weren’t attacking the basket. That maybe had the biggest thing to do with our start.”
Chase Ebert led the way for the Vikings with 19 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists in his final game. Carter Myers added 15 markers.
“Obviously we had a bad start, but it just shows the fight that we have. We cut it to 8 at one point, but we just couldn’t get over the hump,” he said.
River Valley struggled shooting, going 0-for-7 from 3-point range in the first half and were 21-of-51 overall for the contest.
“All credit goes to them. They made shots. We left them open, and they knocked them down. We were poor at the defensive end to start … so it’s hard to get back from that,” Ebert said.
The loss didn’t take away from the team’s overall accomplishments.
“It’s awesome to know we can go in the gym and see our year up there. All credit goes to the coaches and teammates and parents who got us there,” Ebert added.
Maysville put three players in double figures, with Landon Iden getting 17, Gator Nichols 15, and Kane Roehrig 14. Roehrig had a game-high 9 rebounds.
Panthers head coach Dave Brown had hoped for a repeat of Thursday night’s regional semifinal game, and he got it.
“We wanted to get another quick start like we did against New Lex. Again, we’ve been here before, and this is their first regional final appearance since 1963,” he said.
“You have a little bit of an advantage. We had three starters play in a regional final and win a regional final. That was key for us. We knew they might be a little nervous starting. That was the difference really.”
But the Vikings put a brief scare into his squad in the second half, outscoring them 37-36.
In the fourth quarter Ebert had a steal and a basket, Snyder drained a 3 and Myers scored and added a free throw as River Valley tried to claw its way back.
“I thought we gave them a chance at the end. There’s a lot to work on in our end-of-game scenarios. We’re blessed to make it back to another Final Four,” he said.
For RV’s Brown saying goodbye to 7 seniors isn’t easy. Playing their final games were Owen Osting, Weston, Peyton Ross, Luke Axline, Ebert, Hudson Pollock, and Eyan Axline.
“You just tell them thank you for everything they’ve done and for how hard they worked in their four years and how they stuck together,” he said.
“They set the bar again. The bar has been set higher again. That’s something we’ve been able to do the last couple of years, just keep raising the bar. You just thank them for everything they’ve done.”
Box score
Maysville 16 14 23 13 — 66
River Valley 6 11 15 22 — 54
Maysville (25-3): Shots 22-47; 3-pt. shots 7-16 (Landon Iden 3, Kane Roehrig 3, Jordyn Watson); Free throws 15-21; Rebounds 36 (Kane Roehrig 9, Gator Nichols 8); Turnovers 9. Scoring: Gator Nichols 4 7 15, Kade Rock 4 0 8, Landon Iden 5 4 17, Kane Roehrig 5 1 14, Jordyn Watson 4 3 12.
River Valley (24-3): Shots 21-51; 3-pt. shots 4-19 (Chase Ebert, Chase Smith, Carter Myers, Eli Snyder); Free throws 8-14; Rebounds 25 (Chase Ebert, Chase Smith); Turnovers 6. Scoring: Owen Osting 0 1 1, Sawyer Weston 4 0 8, Chase Ebert 8 2 19, Chase Smith 1 2 5, Carter Myers 6 2 15, Eli Snyder 2 1 6.