SHADYSIDE’S ELIJAH Brock drives to the basket in a game from earlier this season. He scored 19 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in a 69-47 loss at Shenandoah.

SARAHSVILLE — It’s not how you start, but how you finish that counts.

That was definitely the case in Friday’s Division IV Sectional final which saw visiting Shadyside play well in the first quarter only to have No. 2 seed Shenandoah control things the rest of the way in running off with a 69-47 victory.

The win puts Shenandoah (21-3) into the D-IV District semifinals and a much-anticipated clash with No 1 seed Malvern (20-4), with the Zeps heading north on Tuesday. Shadyside closes out the year with a 10-11 record.

The Tigers jumped out to an 18-11 first quarter lead behind six points off the bench on two “triples” from freshman Ben Wach and five points each from junior Korey Beckett and sophomore Elijah Brock. Senior Max McVicker kept the Zeps in the game with an eight-point, five-rebound opening round.

Shadyside’s struggles began in the second period with 1-of-9 shooting, leading to a 12-2 edge for Shenandoah which resulted in a 23-20 halftime lead for the hosts.

A 20-13 third quarter advantage extended the Zeps’ lead to 43-33, with seniors Dayton Hill and Christian Duniver leading the charge with nine and eight points, respectively. Brock tossed in seven in the quarter for the Tigers.

The Zeps then sealed the deal with a big 26-14 fourth quarter flurry, which saw Duniver score 15 points including a perfect 11-of-11 at the foul line.

“Sometimes you play too well at the start and it’s too easy,” said veteran Shadyside coach Ed Andes, “and then you let down a little and it gets away from you.

“If you look at the big picture in the first half,” he continued, “they only had 23 points and Duniver only had four. There’s nothing wrong with that from our end, but they were clicking on all cylinders in the second half and we just couldn’t keep up with them.”

“Give them credit for a good start,” offered Shenandoah coach Marc Smith. “They made everything they threw up early, but from the beginning of the second quarter on, we really locked down defensively.

“We felt like we left some points at the rim, but we didn’t panic,” the Zeps’ coach continued. “It just comes down to playing well defensively. They’ve been shooting the ball well, but they weren’t able to do that tonight.”

Duniver — recently named the Eastern District 12 D-IV Player of the Year — finished with a game-high 28 points for the Zeps to push his school-record point total to 1,338. Hill chipped in 14 markers and six rebounds and McVicker added 12 tallies and eight boards.

“We got some momentum (in the second half) and made them chase us,” he said, “and good luck chasing Christian Duniver. Dayton and Max both played well and Aidan Snyder gave us some huge minutes with some really good post defense.”

Brock paced the Tigers (10-11) with a solid “double-double of 19 points and 14 rebounds. Beckett was next with 11 followed by Wach with eight and junior Mason Vannest with seven.

Shenandoah connected on 22-of-45 field goal attempts; 5-of-14 three-pointers and a sharp 20-of-23 free throws with 31 rebounds and 10 turnovers. Shadyside hit 15-of-38 floor shots, 4-of-14 “treys” and 13-of-27 at the charity stripe with 30 boards and 13 miscues.