Tied with eight seconds left, Riverside’s Drew Brown headed to the free-throw line in a Division II district final against North Canton Hoover. The Beavers had trailed by double figures since early in the third quarter. Brown let out a breath each time after a few dribbles of the ball and let them fly. Each time, his foul shots ended with a swish. The Beavers’ defense held in the final seconds as they took the win, 64-61. “Once I got fouled, I thought to myself that I had put too much time and effort into this to miss the free throws,” Brown said. “I knocked them down. We’ve talked all week about surviving and advancing, one game at a time and that’s what we’ve been doing.” Riverside will play North Royalton or Amherst on March 10 at Kent State in a D-II regional semifinal. Riverside started the game fast with a 10-1 run led by eight points from Brown, including a pair of 3-pointers. The fast start gave Riverside a little confidence as Hoover called timeout. “Drew had the mismatch offensively,” Coach Matt Cardina said. “That’s what led to the run. They shifted the matchups, and that didn’t stun us, but them going on a run did. We weren’t running our offense as we wanted to before the half. We talked about running it harder and trusting what we know we can do.” Out of the pause, Brown added his third 3-pointer, but the Vikings started to get into a rhythm of their own. Hunter Hershberger had an and-1 look fall and a 3-pointer before the buzzer. Riverside held the lead as Kyle Harden had a pair of layups fall, making it 17-11. Hoover found a defensive stride in the second quarter, holding Riverside without a field goal in the opening three minutes. The Vikings also picked up both the intensity and the interior. They forced six turnovers in the second and had three Riverside players, Brown, J’Ayvion Kyser and Palmer Hanlin, at three fouls before the break. The Beavers played smart and efficient defense the remainder of the game, with just one foul between the three. “We were talking about discipline and smarts, but at the same time playing as hard as we can,” Brown said. “We couldn’t let the fouls get in our way. We needed to be able to go a little deeper into the bench than usual, and that’s what won us the game.” But once again, a strong push from Harden including a layup and a pair of free throws in the final 1:30 made it a 31-25 halftime deficit. Riverside had several attempts to cut into the lead in the third. Brown hit a 3-pointer, but Newell answered with a 3-pointer. “We’re not a senior-heavy team, but these guys are super connected,” Cardina said. “It started this summer, but we knew we could get a little over-excited as well. But we had the want to play with one and other and that desire. This was a players’ win.” But Riverside had cut it to a 50-44 score to start the fourth. Harden and Brown had layups, but Hoover answered with a 3-pointer from Newell and a Roman Geiselman layup. Then the Beavers’ offense returned to its stride from the start of the game. Hanlin found Ethan Baker for a layup and off a miss, Harden had a deep outlet pass to Brown in the corner, who swung the ball to Hanlin from the left of the top of the key for a 3-pointer. The next possession Hanlin found a lane, got the layup through the foul for the and-1 and converted that for Riverside to take the lead, its first since the middle of the second quarter. “I got in my rhythm because we got the ball in transition,” Hanlin said. “Once we do that, I’m able to get into more of a rhythm rather than just sitting there and waiting for the ball. We move on cuts and I get in the rhythm that way.” Hoover was still in it as Hershberger hit a spin move for a layup, but that was answered by yet another Hanlin 3-pointer. Geiselman added a layup that made it 61-all. But Brown was fouled on a 3-point attempt before converting all of his free throws. Hoover’s final attempt fell short. Brown led the way for Riverside with 24 points and nine rebounds. David Seibert had 12 points, four rebounds and three assists, Hanlin added 12 and Harden had 10. Hoover was led by Newell with 20 points, while Hershberger had 16 points and five assists and Geiselman had 12 points. THE SCORE (MARCH 7) Riverside 64, North Canton Hoover 61 ...read more read less