Marietta's Alex Kendall (21) handles the ball as teammate Seth Britton (2) sets a screen during Monday's district semifinal at the Convo. (Photo by Jordan Holland)

ATHENS – On a night when they just never seemed to be able to get into a rhythm, the Marietta Tigers needed New Lexington to crumble a little bit down the stretch in Monday night’s Division II, district semifinal at the Convocation Center on the campus of Ohio University.

Unfortunately for the top-seeded Marietta, the No. 4 seeded Panthers simply would not beat themselves as they grinded out a 43-40 win to bring the Tigers’ record-breaking season to a halt.

New Lexington made 15-of-18 free throws in the game and committed just two turnovers in the second half to down Marietta and earn a spot in Saturday’s district title game against Warren back at the Convo.

The game was a physical one from the opening tip.

Tiger big man and potential All-Ohio senior Alex Kendall had someone hanging off him seemingly all game long making it hard for the Tiger offense to get into any kind of rhythm.

Marietta's Seth Britton (2) handles the ball as New Lexington's Isaiah Stephens (5) defends during Monday's district semifinal at the Convo. (By Jordan Holland)

“It felt like a football game at times but that is Southeast Ohio basketball and I’m just proud of our guys for competing and playing hard,” said second-year MHS head coach Austin Gardner. “Obviously we didn’t play our best game and missed a lot of shots around the basket but at the end of the day it’s not necessarily who is the better team but who is better for 32 minutes and credit to New Lexington they were tonight.”

The first quarter was a major struggle offensively for both teams as they combined for just 10 points between them with the Panthers holding a 6-4 advantage at the end of those first eight minutes.

The Tigers turned the ball over three times in the first period while making just 2-of-8 field goal attempts.

Although neither team managed to provide much offense in the first half, the game was extremely close with the two teams swapping the lead nine times with neither team holding a lead of more than two points the entire first half.

Fittingly, the opening half ended in a 16-16 tie with both teams shooting an identical 35 percent (6-of-17).

Despite having someone all over him every time he touched the ball Kendall, managed to score seven points in the first half as did Bentley Hanson for New Lex.

The lead swapping continued into the second half as after the Panthers took the lead on a free throw by Hanson, Marietta’s Seth Britton and New Lexington’s Isaiah Stephens traded buckets as the Panthers held onto a 19-18 lead.

It would be the Panthers who would become the first team to make any kind of run at all as Stephens and Hanson both drove strong to the bucket and finished with the left hand to give New Lexington a 23-18 lead.

Marietta responded when Kendall found a wide open Izak Knighten under the basket for an easy two to trim the lead to three with 4:15 to play in the third.

The Panthers answered with a two-pointer by Paul Stenson and two more from Stephens to open up a seven-point lead which would turn out to be the biggest lead of the game.

Marietta managed to trim the lead back to four heading to the final period.

Kendall scored four points in the closing minute of the third quarter and continued into the fourth by grabbing an offensive rebound and then putting it up and in to cut the lead to just two.

Once again New Lexington was able to put a bit of distance between themselves and the Tigers on a pair of freebies by Stephens and a bucket by freshman Lane Ratliff.

The Tigers put together their best stretch of the game and it would be junior Brayden Jones providing a huge spark off of the bench.

First Jones canned an NBA distance three and on the Tigers’ next possession he scored again off of a great pass from Kendall to pull MHS to within one.

Once again Stephens would not crack at the charity strip as he made a pair, but on the other end Kendall yanked down yet another rebound and put it back in for two and then scored on an assist from Knighten after Elyjah Lieras-Kelley came up with a steal to give the Tigers their first lead since the first half.

The Panthers would continue to hit free throws and managed to go back in front and lead by three with 44 seconds to play.

Lieras-Kelley drove strong to the basket for two to cut the lead to a point with 24 seconds to play but the Tigers were forced to foul Hanson who calmly knocked down a pair to push the lead back to 43-40 with just over 20 seconds to play.

Marietta brought the ball across the timeline and Gardner called a time-out to set up a play for the final shot.

The Tigers worked the ball around before getting it into the hands of Kendall who got an open look from behind the arc only to have the ball bounce off of the back of the rim.

Tiger sophomore Zaiden Wittekind managed to grab the rebound and quickly fired the ball back out to Kendall but he was unable to get a shot off before the buzzer sounded bringing a heart-breaking end to a special and historic Tiger season.

Gardner felt like the Tiger had the right play call but the shot much like the entire game just didn’t go their way.

“We drew up a little flair play for him (Kendall) and when you’ve got the best player in Southeastern Ohio and a guy that shoots 45 percent from three you will let him take that shot 10 out of 10 times,” said Gardner. “We knew with his size he was going to able to get the shot off and unfortunately it didn’t go in.”

Stephens and Hanson scored 17 points apiece for New Lexington, which improves to 21-4.

The two combined to make all but three of their 18 free throw attempts which pretty much sealed the Tigers fate.

MHS was led by Kendall with 17 points, 12 rebounds and three assists while Lieras-Kelley and Wittekind finished with six points apiece.

Marietta’s outstanding season comes to a close with a 22-3 record, the most wins in school history, a share of the Twin State League championship and their first sectional title since 2009.

“Obviously this ends the season but one game does not define what they accomplished this season,” said Gardner. “It hurts right now but it’s a cherishing moment that they will have for the rest of their life.”

The game will mark the final one for a special group of Tiger seniors including Kendall, Knighten and Lieras-Kelley.

“I told our seniors when I came here two years ago that I am not going to be the easiest guy to play for because it’s going to be demanding but it will be rewarding in the long run,” said Gardner. “Our three seniors are all going to do tremendous things moving forward in their lives and I’m most proud that they got better and better every day.”