FOXBURG — The hole was just too deep.

The A-C Valley boys basketball team fell behind by 16 points to visiting Ridgway five minutes into the second half.

A furious comeback by the Falcons cut the lead to one point eight minutes later, but A-C Valley never led in a 48-43 loss to the Elkers in the second round of the District 9 Class A playoffs Friday night.

“We made a lot of mistakes in the first half,” said A-C Valley coach Jim Marron. “They out-rebounded us (badly). That put us in a hole. You can't get behind a great team like that.”

A-C Valley (20-5) trailed 10-2 midway through the first quarter and 28-17 at the half.

Ridgway's defense made life tough on A-C Valley and its star, Ryan Bartley, in particular.

Bartley had just three points in the first half. He did find a groove during the second-half rally for the Falcons and finished with 15 points.

“We were a little undisciplined in the first half and they were very disciplined,” Marron said. “That was the difference.”

A-C Valley was just 5-of-19 shooting in the first half.

Defense, though, has been Ridgway's hallmark this season.

“That's the way we play defense,” said Ridgway coach Tony Allegretto. “We hoped that would translate into the second half. It wasn't our defense that hurt us in the second half, it was our offense and our turnovers.”

Ridgway (22-4), the defending District 9 Class A champion, led 38-22 with 3:31 remaining in the third quarter, but the Elkers went into a deep offensive funk.

Meanwhile, A-C Valley and its raucous, sold-out crowd got into the act.

The Falcons went on a 16-1 run to close the gap to 39-38 with 3:20 remaining in the fourth quarter.

During that eight-plus minute stretch, the Elkers missed 12 consecutive shots.

“I'm proud of these seniors. No one quit,” Marron said. “We got some good minutes off the bench. Cole Terwilliger came off the bench and hit a couple of threes to keep us in the game.”

Josh Roselli hit a layup for Ridgway with 2:35 on the clock in the fourth quarter for the Elkers' first field goal in more than eight minutes.

But it gave Ridgway some breathing room.

Jesse Reynolds delivered the Elkers the win, hitting 6-of-6 from the free throw line in the final minutes to ice the game.

“He wanted the ball,” Allegretto said. “He's been in the pressure situations the most out of these guys. We ran some sets on inbound plays to get him the ball. They wanted him to get rid of it, but he didn't. They fouled him and he made six out of six. That's huge.”

Reynolds finished with 19 points.

“He's the best player we've seen this year,” Marron said of Reynolds.

Jeff Eaton banked in a 3-pointer with 21 seconds remaining to cut the lead back down to 44-43, but Reynolds closed out the game with four free throws to bring another abrupt end to an A-C Valley basketball season.

The Falcons have not been to the PIAA playoffs since the 2003-04 season.

This 2012-13 team was loaded with nine seniors. Only one junior, Eaton, saw significant playing time.

“It's always disappointing to lose a playoff game, especially with so many seniors,” Marron said. “If I knew the answer, we'd fix it. But I don't know the answer.

“This is as good a team as I've seen come out of A-C Valley,” Marron added. “But the downside of this whole thing is there are so many good teams in Class A. They're playing a double-A championship between two teams we beat by 25 points.”

Marron, who has 168 wins in 12 seasons with the Falcons, said he's not sure if he is coming back to coach next season.

“I want to talk to some of the kids coming up,” Marron said. “We have a good freshman team with a bunch of bulldogs coming up.”

RIDGWAY 48

Josh Roselli 2-5 2-2 6, Jesse Reynolds 5-12 8-8 19, Luke Bobby 0-0 0-0 0, Anthony Leithner 0-1 2-7 2, Ben MacDonald 2-3 0-0 4, Jeremy Breier 1-2 0-0 2, Joe Jaques 1-3 0-0 2, Sam Roselli 4-7 1-3 9, Robert Byrd 0-0 0-0 0, Josh Mitchell 2-8 0-0 4. Totals: 17-41 13-20 48.

A-C VALLEY 43

Brody Irwin 4-13 1-1 11, Landon Delisio 2-3 2-2 7, Cole Terwilliger 2-2 0-2 6, Ryan Bartley 6-17 3-4 15, Jeff Eaton 1-3 1-2 4, Kevin Kaufman 0-4 0-0 0, Eric Orton 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 15-42 7-11 43.

Ridgway 15 13 11 9—48

A-C Valley7 10 14 12—43

3-point goals: Ridgway 1 (Reynolds). A-C Valley 6 (Irwin 2, Delisio, Terwilliger 2, Eaton)