Frontier’s Jacob Bowersock, center, attacks the basket during Tuesday’s district semifinal game against River at Martins Ferry. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

MARTINS FERRY — The last name Isaly and great shooting have seemingly been synonymous with River Pilots basketball for years and years.

That tradition continued Tuesday night as River sophomore Crestyn Isaly knocked down eight three-pointers and scored 25 points to lead the No. 3 seeded Pilots over the top-seeded Frontier Cougars 56-45 in an OHSAA Division VII, District Semifinal at Martins Ferry High School.

Isaly canned three triples in the first quarter alone as River built themselves an early double-digit lead that they would never relinquish.

While the Pilots offense was certainly impressive, head coach Mark Romick credited their defense with leading them to the win.

“I thought our kids did a tremendous job defensively against a Frontier team that has a whole lot of talent,” said Romick. “I give our kids credit — we are young and sometimes we make mistakes but they just kept persevering and playing hard.”

Frontier’s Avery Powell, left, goes up for a jumper during Tuesday’s district semifinal game against River at Martins Ferry. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

Although the Cougars were the higher seed, the OHSAA elected to play the game at a destination closer in distance for the Pilots and they took full advantage by playing early on like they were on their home court.

Frontier scored the opening point of the game on a free throw by Kason Hoff before the Pilots reeled off 14 unanswered points to open up a huge lead.

Hoff finally scored the Cougars first field goal of the game and junior Jacob Bowersock followed with a free throw before Isaly connected from long range to push the lead back to 13.

The Cougars sandwiched triples by Hoff and Bowersock around yet another Isaly three to cut the lead to 20-10 at the end of the first quarter.

Seemingly all game long every time the Cougars began to make a move Isaly and the Pilots would respond to quickly squash their momentum.

Cougar senior Avery Powell opened up the second quarter with a three-pointer but right on cue Isaly connected again to quickly push the lead back to double-digits.

Hunter Taylor knocked down a three for Frontier but the Pilots would answer with seven straight points including an old-fashioned three-point play by junior Evan Longwell and four points from senior Aiden Milhoan.

That spurt left the Pilots with a 15-point lead and a chance to blow the Cougars right out of the gym.

The Cougars answered though in the final minute of the half as back-to-back triples by Bowersock and Hoff closed the lead to 31-22 at the break.

With Frontier looking to carry over that momentum they gained at the end of the first half into the second, Isaly wouldn’t take long to heat right back up as he knocked down two more triples early in the third quarter to increase the River lead to a game-high 17 points.

Frontier managed to get the lead down to nine late in the final quarter but were unable to make a serious run at the Pilots who picked up their second win of the season against the Cougars in three tries.

The Pilots shot the ball extremely well including 60 percent (9-of-15) from behind the arc.

Isaly himself was 8-for-10 from behind the 3-point line.

“You know he is going to be a shooter if he has got the last name Isaly and he is just a flat-out good shooter,” said Romick of Isaly. “We have told him not to pass up looks because teams hound him so much and when he gets a look he had better take it and he did tonight.”

Longwell added 10 points and seven assists fro the Pilots.

“I thought Evan Longwell did a tremendous job handling the ball for us,” said Romick. “He faced pressure the whole game and really did a nice job.”

The Cougars beat the Pilots (54-35) at home just under two weeks ago but unfortunately were unable to play their best basketball game when they needed to.

Frontier made just four two-point field goals the entire game with the rest of their offense coming from either behind the arc or from the foul line.

“We just didn’t push the ball like we have been and settled for the three,” said Frontier head coach Roger Kirkpatrick. “We’ve played a tough schedule and have been playing so good but we just couldn’t get over the hump and the Isaly kid hit a bunch of shots.”

Bowersock led the way with 18 points while Hoff added 13.

Taylor finished with six points and a team-high seven rebounds while Powell closed out his outstanding Cougar career with eight points.

Powell finishes his career as the No. 3 all-time scorer in Frontier school history while Taylor was one of the most improved players in the area this year and a great team leader according to Kirkpatrick.

“Just great kids who have been great role models to their teammates and also great students,” said Kirkpatrick of his two seniors. “They will be tough to replace.”

The Cougars season comes to a close with a very respectable 16-8 record while the (15-9) Pilots will advance to Saturday’s District Championship game against Malvern at the ECO Center (4 p.m.).

“There are only 32 teams left in Division VII and we are one of them so we are going to go play,” said Romick. “Malvern is a really good team so we will have our work cut out for us but we’ll be ready.”