Staff photo / Brian Yauger Grand Valley junior Carter Turk (1) goes up for a layup during Tuesday’s Division VI regional semifinal matchup against Kirtland at Canton Memorial Fieldhouse.

CANTON — Grand Valley’s historic season came to a close on Tuesday, with the Mustangs falling 79-58 to Kirtland in a Division VI regional semifinal matchup at Canton Memorial Fieldhouse.

It was a slow start for Grand Valley, as it struggled to get any momentum going. Kirtland, however, took control of the game early, scoring 22 points in the opening quarter.

“It’s certainly trying to match their physicality early,” Mustangs coach Justin Turk said. “We weren’t able to get in many of our offensive sets. They did to us what we do to pretty much every other team in the area, so hats off to them. They played to their strengths.”

The Mustangs went into the locker room at halftime with a deep, but escapable 43-24 deficit. Winning the third quarter was going to be crucial.

While the third was the team’s best quarter, scoring 20 points, Kirtland also tallied 20, preserving the advantage. Fourteen of those points came from Kirtland senior Lucas Renfro, who finished with a game-high 30 points.

It seemed like no matter what Grand Valley threw at them, the Hornets had a counter.

“We certainly talked about coming out in the third quarter. We needed to win the first three minutes,” Turk said. “It didn’t work out the first three minutes, but in the last three minutes, we cut it back from a 26-point game down to 18. The goal was to get through the third in a manageable spot.”

Grand Valley was paced by Solomon Schultz, who led the way with 24 points. Carter Turk added 13.

Kirtland’s plan was to limit both Schultz and Turk as much as possible. While they led the Mustangs, they had to scrap for every bucket.

“You would certainly think they would (key in on the Mustangs’ leading scorers). They’re two of the top players in the area,” Turk said. “They banged on them and elbowed as much as they can.”

The Mustangs’ season ends with a 21-5 record and the program’s first district championship.

Grand Valley graduates two seniors, Anthony Eason and Payton Plizga.

“Losing Payton and Anthony, those two guys mean a lot to us physicality-wise on the defensive side,” Turk said. “Certainly, we’ve got a lot of guys back, but we’ll worry about next year, next year.”

Like last season’s district championship loss helped fuel Grand Valley in this year’s district title game, Turk hopes this defeat can do the same for next year’s group. With all but two players returning to the roster, this experience will likely stick with the Mustangs.

“You certainly want it to be (the next step),” Turk said. “I think last week, I just talked about the NBA model. You’ve got to earn your way up. So if we’re able to earn our way up and go up another rung, we’ll take it.”

Kirtland, which won its first district championship since 1999, will play Richmond Heights with a trip to Dayton and the state final four on the line.