Staff photo / Dan Hiner. Boardman’s Kaden Mayhew (5) fights through contact by Avon’s Colten Fitch (3) and Ali Jaber during the first quarter of a Division II district semifinal on Tuesday in Boardman.

BOARDMAN — There was a little bit of everything Tuesday night at Boardman High School. There were 3-pointers, tough layups, defense and even some controversy.

As the final buzzer sounded, the Spartans ended up on the losing end, falling to Avon 73-67 in a Division II district semifinal.

“We’ve told them before this year that sometimes you don’t play very well and you end up winning, and sometimes you play one of your best games and you end up losing,” Boardman head coach Steve Flores said. “They did everything we asked them to do as coaches. … Played so hard, just came up short to a physical team.”

Avon had the 3-point shot working early. The Eagles hit four threes in the first quarter to grab the lead. But a Sullivan Smith three gave the Spartans (12-10) a 21-18 lead with 40 seconds to play in the first, and they followed by forcing a turnover with their press defense.

The teams continued to trade blows in the second quarter, and a technical foul on Avon’s Joey Ziegler sent Grayson Eicher to the line. He split a pair with about 30 seconds left before the half, and the Spartans took a 39-36 lead into the locker room.

The offense didn’t slow down in the third as both teams traded the lead. By the end of the quarter, the score was tied at 59.

Avon led 66-65 with 2:27 to play but the Eagles were called for a player control foul. With 2:11 left, Jerry Smith drove down the lane and dished the ball to Eicher, putting the Spartans ahead 67-66.

Boardman had a chance to create some breathing room a minute later.

Avon couldn’t get a shot to fall, but the Eagles earned a couple extra possessions when the ball went off Boardman and out of bounds. With a minute on the clock, the Eagles lobbed the ball in to Ali Jaber, who caught it and sank a short shot from the middle of the paint.

Terrell McDowell’s ensuing layup attempt rimmed out, and the fight for the ball, which went out of bounds, resulted in an Eagles possession. On the inbound, the Spartans players believed the ball was touched by Avon’s Nolan Good before heading out of play, and the Eagles were again given possession.

Boardman’s bench was assessed a technical as the call was made, and Ziegler split the pair from the stripe. The Spartans had another layup stay out on their next possession, and Ziegler put the game away with a pair of free throws.

“I feel like we didn’t take very many bad shots. We got the looks we wanted. It’s just the game sometimes,” Flores said. “Sometimes they go down, sometimes they don’t. The kids did exactly what we asked them to.”

Eicher led the Spartans with 15 points, McDowell scored 14 and Kaden Mayhew added 13. Smith made a team-high three 3-pointers on his way to a nine-point night.

Tuesday was the final game for seven Boardman seniors.

Zach Haus, Destin Sellers, Mason Nawrocki, Eicher, McDowell, Mayhew and Smith helped make life a little easier for Flores in his first year as the varsity head coach.

“As my first team as a varsity head coach, I just told my assistants, I couldn’t ask for a better group of seniors,” Flores said. “Coming in my first year — being on staff, I knew ’em — but they showed leadership this year when we needed it this year.”

It was a disappointing end, but the Spartans played one of their best games to close a successful season.

Boardman finished 12-10 after only winning 12 games over the last two years. The Spartans posted a 5-19 record last year and went 7-16 in 2022-2023.

“Whether anybody outside the program thought so, I knew we could win games, and that was the belief we tried to instill into the kids,” Flores said. “That took some work coming off the last couple seasons, but you can tell by their performance tonight, it’s a good team. They believed … they really did take a step forward for this program.”