BLAIRSVILLE — Penn Cambria used hot shooting to assume an early 12-point lead, only to watch it dissipate in a 52-48 loss against River Valley in a fiercely played District 6 Class 3A basketball quarterfinal playoff game on Thursday night at River Valley Middle School.

River Valley will play top-seeded Bishop Guilfoyle Academy at Pleasant Valley Gymnasium in a semifinal-round game at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

“Why not? They’re a great basketball team. I will not take anything away from them. It’s going to take a heck of an effort. But why not? We are going to go up there, and we’ll swing, and we’ll swing and until we can’t swing any more. And we’ll see what happens,” River Valley coach Rick Spallone said.

Penn Cambria made good on 7 of 13 from the floor as it took a 20-8 lead into the second period. River Valley crawled within two, 33-31, at halftime. Jeremy Reed’s 3-pointer at the 1:35 mark of the third period gave River Valley its first lead, 41-40.

“We came out in a zone because we thought if there was a weakness with them, it was maybe their outside shooting. But in that first quarter they knocked down four of six 3-pointers. They were really feeling it,” Spallone said.

“Conventional wisdom (says) you will not stay that hot. But typically we found a way to make a couple of those shots to extend our lead. And we didn’t tonight,” Penn Cambria coach Jim Ronan said.

River Valley was playing its first game since Feb. 6, the Heritage Conference championship game against unbeaten United.

“I’m not saying the two-week layoff between the conference championship and tonight had anything to do with (the slow start). But once we got our legs and found our groove, we battled back,” Spallone said.

The fourth quarter began in a 43-all deadlock. Blake Lilly hit one of two free throws at the 2:28 mark to give Penn Cambria a 48-45 lead. Baskets by Bryson McDowell (2:11) and Angel Torres (1:42) put River Valley in front for good.

“It was a slugfest. Neither team backed down. It was tough both ways. I don’t think we hit a shot the last three minutes. If you don’t hit a shot it’s very tough to win,” Ronan said.

“I thought our defensive effort after the first quarter was tremendous. That’s what won us the basketball game,” Spallone said.

“Playoff games are won on defense, rebounding and making free throws. And I thought we did all those three things very well tonight.”

Landon Semelsberger led Penn Cambria with 16 points. Senior classmate Caden Gibbons who entered last night averaging 19.7 points per game, added 13 points and eight rebounds. Brady Jones chipped in 10 points.

River Valley received 14 points, however, from Nicholas Mortimer and 10 points from Angel Torres.

“River Valley didn’t give us second-chance points, for the most part,” Ronan said. “With Cade and his size, they have three or four guys who can match his athleticism and size. So that caused some problems inside,” Ronan said.

Penn Cambria entered the playoffs having won six of eight.

“It was a great season. The kids are great kids. They play hard all the time. In sports, it sometimes doesn’t go your way, and you have to be humble and find a way to move on to the next chapter, whatever it may be,” Ronan said.

PENN CAMBRIA (48): Lilly 0 3-6 3, Semelsberger 6 2-2 16, Gibbons 3 7-10 13, Jones 4 1-1 10, Nadolsky 2 1-2 5, Gides 0 0-0 0, Marshall 0 0-0 0. Totals – 15 14-21 48.

RIVER VALLEY (52): N.Mortimer 5 3-4 14, Pynos 3 1-2 7, Reed 1 2-4 4, Persichetti 3 2-2 9, McDowell 3 1-1 7, Reilly 0 0-0 0, Torres 5 0-0 10. Totals – 20 9-13 52.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Penn Cambria 20 13 10 5 – 48

River Valley 8 23 12 9 – 52

3-point goals: Penn Cambria 4 (Semelsberger 2, Jones 3), River Valley 3 (N.Mortimer, Persichetti, Reed).

Officials: Jason Moschgat, Cliff Kitner, Dan Amrhein.

Records: Penn Cambria (15-8), River Valley (18-6).