Staff photo / Preston Byers Cardinal Mooney’s Ashton O’Brien shoots a three-pointer during the Cardinals’ Division III regional semifinal game against Central Catholic in Canton on Wednesday.

CANTON — Cardinal Mooney relied on its senior leaders in the fourth quarter to keep its state title hopes alive Wednesday as the Cardinals defeated Canton Central Catholic in the Division III regional semifinal 66-54.

Mooney built a lead as large as 13 in the third quarter as seniors Eddie Nieves, Rocco Turner and Jibri Carter took over the offensive load for the Cardinals. In the final 2:30 of the period, though, Central Catholic found its touch from the outside; the Crusaders made three triples and cut the deficit to four amid a 9-0 run to end the quarter.

But just when they needed to, the Cardinals’ seniors came to the rescue. Eddie Nieves ended a nearly three-minute scoreless streak with a three-pointer to open the fourth. While Central Catholic turned to 6-foot-8 Jonathan Stangl on one end, Mooney leaned on 5-foot-9 Carter to get them over the proverbial finish line.

Carter scored 14 of his game-high 26 points in the fourth, knifing through traffic and draining each of his seven free throws down the stretch to seal a regional final-clinching victory for the Cardinals.

After the win, Carter said making it back to the regional title game after falling just short of the state tournament two years ago is incredibly meaningful.

“We’ve been going through this for four years. We always want to make it to this point. We want to make it beyond this point,” Carter said. It means a lot for me and my guys. I love them all. And it just feels really good to be back here again.”

Central Catholic got out to a slim lead early on, as the Cardinals attempted to and failed to take the advantage for the entire first quarter.

Mooney began to find consistency on both ends in the second quarter, grabbing hold of the lead and building a four-point edge going into halftime through its consistent defensive pressure.

The Cardinals seemed like they were going to pull away for good in the third quarter, with Nieves, Carter and Turner combining for 13 points and helping the team get ahead by just as many.

However, Luke Vlacovsky and Gavin Layman then put together three three-pointers to pull within four points to start the fourth quarter. The shots, unfortunately for the Crusaders, did not keep falling in the final eight minutes as Mooney pulled away.

Mooney head coach Carey Palermo praised his entire senior class for their collective performance Wednesday.

“They all had huge games. Jibri had 26. I think he’s the best guard in the area. I think it’s kind of insane he was honorable mention All-Northeast Ohio and not first team, but that’s whatever,” Palermo said. “Ashton O’Brien, Rocco [Turner], they’ve been in this gym before. They made big plays. Nick Pregibon gave huge energy and a big bucket. Eddie Nieves didn’t shoot the ball well the first half; he came out on fire in the third quarter.”

Central Catholic coach Matt Creamer said Mooney’s defensive pressure made a big difference in the Crusaders’ season-ending defeat.

“We didn’t handle the pressure well in the full court,” Creamer said. “We worked on it and worked on it, but sometimes kids dribble away instead of dribbling at.”

Mooney now turns its attention to its regional final opponent, Lutheran East, which beat the Cardinals 50-35 in the 2022 regional championship.

“It means a lot for the seniors. They’ve worked so hard for this,” Palermo said. “We were here two years ago when Lutheran East got us by 15 in the regional final. We talked about having the opportunity to play a team like this and get back to this game.”

Mooney and Lutheran East will face off at 2 p.m. on Saturday at the Canton Memorial Field House.

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