MARTINS FERRY – Backyard rivals River and Frontier navigated up Ohio 7 Tuesday night to square off in their OHSAA D-VII District semifinal contest in the Purple City.

The two teams split their two regular-season games. The rubber game, however, was all Pilots as Coach Mark Romick’s charges dominated from start to finish in pocketing a 56-45 triumph at Tolbert Gymnasium. River rolled to a 14-1 lead midway through the opening quarter and was never seriously challenged the balance of the night.

“I am extremely pleased on how we played tonight,” Romick beamed. “Both offensively and defensively our guys were outstanding. It is as well as we have played in any game this year.”

The third-seeded Pilots improved to 15-9 on the campaign while the top-seeded Cougars checked out at 16-8.

River will face No. 4 Malvern on Saturday at 4 p.m. inside the ECO Center for the District Championship.

Crestyn Isaly was nothing short of sensational from long range for the winners.

The sharpshooting sophomore buried eight treys on the night en route to a 25-point effort. He helped to fuel the Pilots’ impressive start by meshing a trio of treys in the opening quarter as the Hannibal-based charges owned a 20-10 advantage at the quarter pole.

River maintained a 31-22 lead at intermission before opening up additional breathing room via a 44-29 upperhand entering the final chapter. Isaly dropped in two more bonus balls in the frame.

Frontier tried to mount a fourth-quarter comeback, employing a 1-2-2 halfcourt trap. Coach Roger Kirkpatrick’s crew was able to draw within nine points but no closer. Isaly delivered the dagger with his final trey of the night with 2:31 showing, boosting the margin to 52-38.

Evan Longwell was Isaly’s top support. The savvy junior netted 10 points while turning in a sparkling effort directing the River offense.

“We beat a very good team tonight. They were top-seeded for a reason,” Romick said. “But we put some new sets in which they haven’t seen before. It enabled our offense to be very effective.

“Our point guard (Longwell) is a major reason we won this game. He did a terrific job of running the show,” added the veteran coach. “Cresytn had an amazing night shooting and everyone did their jobs. It is a very pleasing win.”

Junior Jacob Bowersock led Frontier with 18 points while sophomore Kason Hoff produced 13 tallies.

The Cougars were guilty of 14 miscues.

River, which advanced to Tuesday’s contest via a 49-47 overtime win against Conotton Valley, committed nine turnovers.

“I am happy for these guys to make the district championship game. They have worked hard all year and have gotten better. We are a young team,” Romick said. “Malvern is your typical Malvern team. They have a quality program.”