A host of Frontier and River players got up for a rebound during Friday’s game at Hank Morus Gym. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

NEW MATAMORAS — The Frontier Cougars celebrated their senior night by gaining a measure of revenge over the arch-rival River Pilots Friday night at Hank Morus Gymnasium.

Prior to the game the large crowd of Cougar faithful on hand honored Frontier seniors Avery Powell, Caleb Kirkpatrick and Hunter Taylor and then watched them lead their team to a 54-35 victory to pay back the Pilots, who picked up a 44-39 win over Frontier back in December.

The Cougars built a double-digit first-quarter lead and never looked back as they improved to 14-7 on the season in their next-to-last regular season contest.

“They beat us at their place by four or five so to come back and get them tonight is a good win for us,” said Frontier head coach Roger Kirkpatrick. “I thought we played great team defense and that is what won us the game.”

River head coach Mark Romick had his team in a triangle-and-two defense early on to try and eliminate the outside shooting of Powell and Kason Hoff.

Frontier’s Hunter Taylor (2) goes up for a jumper as River’s Aiden Milhoan (11) contests during Friday’s game at Hank Morus Gym. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

That strategy worked against those two but Cougar junior guard Jacob Bowersock tossed in nine first quarter points as Frontier built a 14-4 lead.

Powell scored his first basket of the night to open the second quarter and after a Kaden Hunt 3-pointer for River, Powell struck once again this time from long range to give the Cougars a 19-7 lead.

That lead swelled to as many as 15 in the second quarter after Taylor’s second triple of the opening half before River went on an 8-2 run to cut the lead to nine with just over a minute to play in the second quarter.

Crestyn Isaly and Evan Longwell both connected on 3s in the River run which had them on the verge of heading to the break within striking distance and with a lot of momentum going into the second half.

The Cougars ruined that strategy though as Powell’s two-pointer and yet another triple by Taylor in the closing seconds sent Frontier to the locker room with a 31-17 lead.

Frontier came out in the third quarter much like they did to open the game as they scored the first six points of the second half to increase their lead to 20.

The Pilots were able to cut the lead to 14 by the end of the third quarter but never got any closer than 11 the rest of the way as Frontier picked up their second lop-sided win in as many nights after rolling to a win last night over Caldwell.

Bowersock led all scorers with 21 points while Powell and Taylor finished with 14 and 10 points respectively in their last regular season game at “The Hank.”

Powell is closing in on the 1,400-point mark in his Cougar career, which puts him easily in the top five scorers in Frontier history.

“Avery’s a four-year starter for us who is over 1,300 points and just a great leader,” said Kirkpatrick. “He’s a great kid who has worked hard for everything he has got and we are going to miss him tremendously.”

Taylor has continued to improve game by game and has made quite an impression on his head coach.

“Hunter is a first-year starter and by far our most improved player this year,” said Kirkpatrick. “He’s a tremendous kid and the best leader we have and he wants to win.”

Coach Kirkpatrick also had high praise for his grandson Caleb, the Cougars other senior and best defensive player.

“Caleb is the best defensive player we have had around here in quite awhile,” said coach Kirkpatrick of the younger Kirkpatrick. “It’s hard to coach your own grandson but for three years he has guarded the opponent’s best offensive player in 70-some games and plays with a lot of heart.”

Caleb did not score Friday night but finished the game with team-highs in assists with nine and steals with five.

The Pilots (13-8) were led by Isaly with 14 points and Evan Longwell with 10.

Frontier will play a makeup game on Monday at St. Marys before hosting Shadyside next Friday night to open up OHSAA tournament play.

A win by Frontier as well as a win by the Pilots in their playoff opener would have the two teams aligned to meet one another once again in the postseason in what could be a rubber match and elimination game at the same time.

“We have won 14 games and I think we left a few other wins out there because we didn’t finish,” said Kirkpatrick. “We’ve been showing we can finish teams off lately and I thought we looked focused and energized tonight and if we can keep that up I like our chances in the districts this year.”