Staff photo / Dan Hiner. Canfield’s Landon Shina (22) goes up for a layup during the second quarter of Tuesday’s Division IV district semifinal against Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin at Canfield High School.

CANFIELD — Landon Shina had the most important 30 seconds of the Canfield boys basketball team’s season.

A late offensive rebound and a layup in the final 40 seconds helped the Cardinals hold off Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin 72-65 in a Division IV, Northeast 1, district semifinal on Tuesday in Canfield.

“I had to be there, I had to be there for my team,” Shina said. “We had to finish the game. It’s an important game to go to the district finals. Big players have to come up in big moments and get the job done in the end.”

An intentional foul on NDCL sent Joey Gabriel to the line and gave the Cardinals a chance at the final possession of the first quarter. Gabriel split the free throws, and a last-second layup attempt landed and stuck atop the rim.

But the Cardinals (22-3) scored the final five points of the first and held a 13-8 lead.

Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin (10-13) was without forward Brendan Hernan for almost the entire second quarter because of foul trouble. He picked up his third foul a minute into the quarter.

The Cardinals quickly increased their lead by outscoring NDCL 15-5 over the first four minutes of the second quarter.

The Lions cut the deficit to 10 shortly after, but Canfield responded by scoring seven of the final nine points of the quarter to take a 35-21 lead into the break.

When Hernan returned to the court in the third, the Lions started scoring. They trimmed the deficit to eight.

“It’s good to have competition early, because it prepares you for a later run if you can make it,” Shina said. “We love coming here, having a good opponent, working our way up.”

The Cardinals’ lead was cut to 45-40 with two minutes remaining in the third, but the Lions were called for a second intentional foul. Bryce Roberts sank both free throws and converted a layup on the extra possession.

A scoring frenzy took place from that point, and Canfield took a 54-45 lead into the fourth quarter.

Canfield then scored seven of the first 10 points in the final quarter to extend its lead to 61-48 with 6:07 to play.

The Lions battled to cut the deficit to 63-59 with three minutes left.

It was a three-point game when the Cardinals missed a pair of free throws, but Shina went up and grabbed the offensive rebound. Shina was trapped, so Canfield head coach Andy Vlajkovich called a timeout. When the Cards got back on the court, Shina sank a layup that put the game out of reach.

“Landon’s made more winning plays than anybody I’ve ever coached,” Vlajkovich said. “His stat line may not always look the best, he may not always lead us in scoring, but my man just makes winning plays. He’s been doing it for three years for us. He made a winning play as a sophomore in a district final, he made a clutch three in a district final last year and he made one tonight. That’s just what that kid does.”

Hernan led all scorers with 25 points, with 23 coming in the second half. Jason Rook added 15 points, and Wesley Jacobson had 12.

Shina finished with 10 points, and Gabriel had 18 points to tie Jace Riccardo for the team lead. Roberts finished with 15 points, and he came up big for the Cardinals in the second half. He took control of the offense and scored 11 points in the second half.

“He sorta controlled the game for us down the stretch,” Vlajkovich said of Roberts. “He dominated the rim, he looked explosive getting to the rim. He’s a kid that probably had a little bit of a rough start to the year — just banged up a little bit — and his statline in the last month or so has just been incredible.”

Canfield will now compete for its third straight district championship on Saturday, something the Cardinals have never done. It could also be an important point for this year’s team since Canfield lost a number of key contributors from the 2024 and 2025 finals teams.

The Cardinals will look to make history against Brookside, which beat Orrville 56-49 on Tuesday.

“It’d be huge to leave our mark on our city, on this school,” Shina said. “We have to treat (the district final) the way we treat any game. It’s gonna be our end eventually. Just gotta play one game at a time.”