GROVE CITY — Second seeded River Valley put up a valiant fight but fell 55-52 to Columbus Bishop Hartley here Saturday afternoon in a boys Division II district final.
Carson Smith led the Vikings with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Chase Ebert added 11 and Sawyer Weston 9.
Jakii Calloway netted 14 and Carson Svetek 10 for the Hawks.
This marked River Valley’s second straight district final appearance.
The Vikings trailed after one quarter by 3 but took a 25-23 lead into halftime.
Ebert hit a 3 that tied the game at 35-35 with 35 seconds left in the third quarter. Hartley quickly scored a basket to take a one-point lead into the fourth.
Bishop Hartley went on a 7-0 run before Weston’s 3 cut it to 48-47. Chase Smith then drained his own three making it 55-52 Hartley with 5.9 seconds to play.
After a stolen pass, RV got one final chance, but Ebert’s long desperation attempt fell short at the buzzer.
Box score
Bishop Hartley 55, River Valley 52
River Valley 14 11 10 17 — 52
Hartley 17 6 14 18 — 55
River Valley (19-6): Scoring: Carson Smith 6 4 18, Sawyer Weston 4 0 9, Chase Ebert 5 0 11, Xavier Hensel 1 0 3, Chase Smith 1 0 3, Ayden Kenney 3 0 6, Carter Myers 1 0 2.
Bishop Hartley (22-3): Scoring: Pharez Nicholas 1 6 8, Jaden Calloway 4 1 9, Jakii Calloway 6 2 14, Carson Svetek 3 2 10, Ethan Godfrey 2 0 6, Jeffrey Reynolds 1 1 3, Christian King 1 2 5.