Photo by Nick Henthorn Shadyside’s Ben Wach keeps his dribble alive while guarded by River’s Kabel Isaly on Friday during their Division IV sectional co-final.

SHADYSIDE — In a season which has been defined by improvement for Shadyside, the Tigers kept trending upward Friday night in their Division IV sectional co-final matchup against the visiting River Pilots.

A rubber match between the two teams, Shadyside got out to an early lead and kept the visiting Pilots at arms-length all the way in a 48-38 victory.

“The kids have improved all season, and I’m just very proud of them because they stepped on the court and from quarter one to quarter four they played a complete game,” Shadyside head coach Ed Andes. “It’s for the kids, the players, they’ve been working really hard and I’m just so proud of them tonight for pulling this one out.”

Shadyside was led by senior Ben Wach who scored 16 points. Tyler Stottlemyer scored 12 via four 3-pointers, while Karl Tsoras added 10 points.

“It’s good when other kids score,” Andes said. “Tyler [Stottlemyer] stepped up and got 12, Tsoras stepped up and got 10. It’s nice when you get other guys, because it helps us. It’s better for there to be more than one guy scoring. In the second half, Ben just dished and helped other guys. We don’t care who scores as long as somebody scores.”

River was paced by Kabel Isaly, who scored 25 for the Pilots.

River got off to an ice-cold start from the floor Friday, starting 0-8 while Shadyside built an 8-0 lead with 2:30 to play off of 3’s from Wach and Stottlemyer, as well as two technical free throws.

Isaly drained a 3-pointer on the Pilots’ next shot attempt, but the Tigers led 12-3 after the first quarter.

Shadyside worked to clog up the paint on defense, and kept their eyes on Isaly at all times. By the end of the first half, the Pilots’ shot had still not yet come around, and River trailed 29-12.

“When you can’t throw a pea in Lake Eerie, it becomes a problem, especially when it gets in your head,” River head coach Mark Romick said. “These are kids, 16, 17, 18-year-olds, I thought it affected us greatly as the first half wore on.

“Then you get to the point where okay, now you have to gamble on defense. When you have to do that, you wear yourself down. We only play six, seven guys so that became an issue in the second half. We fought hard, got it back to eight, but it was too little too late, we dug ourselves a hole that we couldn’t get out of.”

While River was falling behind, Isaly found his rhythm, with an and-one layup, a drawn charge and two more free throws to close the first half, and seven straight points to open the second half and cut the lead to 10, 29-19, with 5:00 to go in the third quarter.

Isaly’s totals accounted for almost all of River’s scoring through the first three quarters- 21 of the Pilots’ 26 points going into the fourth.

“Isaly can score, and he makes everybody else on his team better,” Andes said. “You’ve got to try to eliminate as much as you can. He’s going to score, so the best thing you can do is keep the other guys from getting involved. Isaly’s going to get some points. Our first game, he put 47 on us.”

Shadyside led 39-26 going into the fourth. River entertained a comeback, getting the game to single-digits at 46-38 late, but it was not meant to be Friday.

Shadyside wins their section in a season which they started 1-5. The Tigers will look to continue their upward ascent against Hiland.

“From when we started to now, they just keep getting better,” Andes said. “We had a couple injuries, everyone’s healthy now. The last game and this game, the kids have been very focused, which is good to see.”

“Hiland’s Hiland. They’re very good, very disciplined, always a real nice team. We’ve got to bring our A-game.”