Special to The News

It would not be an exaggeration to say Riverside has had Shenango’s number in recent years in boys basketball.

Coming into this season, Riverside had won seven of 10 meetings since the 2006-07 school year, including both meetings the past two seasons.

The Panthers ran their winning streak against Shenango to five last night with a thrilling 60-57 Section 2-AA victory at the Wildcats’ gym.

“We didn’t protect our home court tonight and now we have to go to Neshannock Tuesday and that won’t be easy,” Shenango coach Bob McQuiston said.

Shenango (2-2 section, 7-4 overall) held a 57-56 lead after Jordan O’Hara converted a three-point play the hard way with 37.7 seconds left to play. O’Hara made the front end of a one-and-one opportunity, missed the second but got the rebound and flipped in a rebound.

Riverside (2-1, 7-5) went back on top by a point when Tyler Falk connected on a turn-around jumper in the lane with 12 seconds remaining.

The Wildcats had a chance to retake the lead but Jeff Williams was called for a charge on the baseline with 4.8 seconds left. That gave Riverside the ball and Shenango had to foul, which the Wildcats did. But they fouled Riverside guard Brent Mulneix.

Panthers coach John Rorick looked confident as Mulneix went to the line to shoot the one-and-one.

“He’s an 80 percent free-throw shooter. I was pretty sure he’d make them,” Rorick said.

Mulneix did with 3.8 seconds left and Riverside immediately fouled Shenango’s Brett Chieze to keep the Wildcats from attempting a 3-point shot that would have tied the game. Chieze, who scored 16 points, missed the front end of the one-and-one.

“We probably would have done the same thing in that situation,” McQuiston said. “You’ve got to make the first one (free throw) and miss the second and hope you get the rebound.”

“There are a lot of things that have to go right for them to tie the score there,” Rorick said.

The contest played in front of an enthusiastic crowd was a classic matchup of Riverside’s inside game headed by 6-foot-5 juniors Gig Jewell and Falk against Shenango’s 3-point shooting, lead by Chieze, O’Hara and Greg DePorzio.

Shenango couldn’t come up with an answer for Jewell, who had a game-high 27 points and made 11-of -15 field-goal attempts, mostly from close range. He scored 10 points in the first quarter.

“When Gig gets it going that’s what he can do. He made every big basket for us,” Rorick said. Falk finished with 15 points.

Chieze made three 3-pointers and DePorzio and O’Hara hit two apiece. O’Hara scored 11 of his 13 points in the fourth quarter.

“We missed some opportunities at the end,” McQuiston said. “The Jewell kid … we tried to double-down on him but he’s a pretty good player.

“You can always second-guess yourself (about things you could have done). I’ll be thinking about that all night.”

(Email: ncsports@ncnewsonline.com)