Staff photo / Brian Yauger LaBrae senior Austin Rowe (10) goes up for a layup during the second half of Wednesday’s Division V district semifinal against Canton Central Catholic in Leavittsburg.

LEAVITTSBURG — Down a pair of starters, LaBrae went into Wednesday’s Division V, Northeast 4, district semifinal matchup against Canton Central Catholic at a disadvantage.

While hanging tough with the Crusaders early, LaBrae couldn’t hold on, falling 60-42 at LaBrae High School.

“We played hard the whole time. I’m proud of our effort,” Vikings coach Chad Kiser said. “We had it down (close) at one point there in the second half when we came out, but we made a couple mental mistakes. Two of them were on inbounds, where we just didn’t make a ball fake, and we telegraphed it and led to layups the other way.

“They spread you out. They’ve got shooters galore and the big guy in the middle, so we tried to match up with the big guy, and they spread us out and really cut well in the zone and hurt us a couple times to spread out the lead. Then we had to chase them man-to-man, and that was all she wrote. But we battled the whole time.”

Lucas Glaser, who was sidelined due to an injury, was a big piece along the boards for the Vikings this season. Without him, the Vikings were missing one of its top rebounders, and Canton Central Catholic made them pay in the paint.

“You can’t out X’s and O’s them, you’ve gotta out-hustle them,” Kiser said. “Truly, the difference tonight was with the boards. They killed us on the offensive boards with their size, and once we were spread out in the zone, we gave up way too many offensive rebounds and second-chance points to really have a chance to win tonight, but we gave it our best.”

In his swan song performance with the Vikings, senior Austin Rowe went out with a bang. Despite being keyed in on by the Crusaders, Rowe finished with a game-high 21-point performance.

LaBrae’s season ends with a 17-7 record. The Vikings’ senior class ends its run as one of the most decorated in program history.

“They left their mark,” Kiser said. “Four straight conference championships. We did that one other time in our program history here. That’s something that they wanted to do. It didn’t look good when we were in third place there, but we didn’t give up. We kept working in practice and kept getting after the games and won the ones that we needed to on the road at Southeast and Newton Falls. Those were all big ones. Absolutely huge.”

If there’s one thing Kiser wants his group to remember from this season, it’s that perseverance that kept the team afloat when things looked bleak.

“For the rest of their lives, no matter what they’re doing, there’s no shortcut,” Kiser said. “You can’t take the easy way out. You’ve got to go do it the right way. Work hard, like we did this year, like we tried to coach them to do, and they’ll be successful. And just enjoy it. That’s why they do it. Have fun and grow friendships for a lifetime. They did that and had a great season.”