JACKSON TWP — Seneca Valley's William Paul Gymnasium hosted a non-section boys basketball game Tuesday night, but it certainly didn't resemble one.

The Raiders and Centurions turned in a performance with all the emotion of a Section 3-AAAA clash that Seneca has become used to, with the home team withstanding a furious fourth-quarter comeback attempt to claim a 63-56 win.

GCC is a Class A school playing up in Class AA. The Centurions reached the WPIAL title game and state semifinals last season.

“Greensburg Central was an excellent non-section opponent for us,” said Raiders' coach Victor Giannotta. “They have a chance to be in the WPIAL finals this year and we knew this would be a good game.”

GCC (3-1) found itself down 49-33 entering the fourth period, but forced six SV turnovers in the last eight minutes and pulled to within 60-56 with Romano Sebastiani's two free throws with 1:04 left.

With three of their starters on the bench after fouling out — Zach Snyder, Dakota Topf and T.J. Holl — the Raiders received clutch plays late from reserves.

Cody Boozel rebounded a missed Centurion shot with 33 seconds to go. With 16.3 seconds remaining, Chris Hart drained a pair of free throws to extend the Raider lead to 62-56. Finally, starting point guard Chad Izenas hit a free throw to make it a three-possession game with just five seconds left.

Seneca had survived despite being outscored 23-14 in the fourth quarter.

“We tried to keep the pressure on and created some turnovers with it,” said GCC coach Greg Bisignani of his team's comeback. “We missed four layups late. If we make a couple of those, it could have been a different outcome.

“Seneca Valley is a good team and we get satisfaction out of competing against and beating bigger schools,” he added. “We're disappointed we lost, but feel this is a game we can build off of. My kids constantly play hard.”

Just as the Centurions were the better team in the final period, the Raiders were dominant in the third period.

Senior guard/forward Dakota Topf paced an 18-6 run with nine of his team-high 21 points and the Raider defense held GCC to just 16.6 percent (2-of-12) shooting from the floor.

“Our defensive rebounding was key,” said Giannotta. “They (Centurions) had no second-shot opportunities and we capitalized. But we knew Greensburg wouldn't quit.”

Snyder continued his great start to the season with 17 points and 14 rebounds for the Raiders (4-1).

Sebastiani, GCC's lone returning starter from last season, led all scorers with 23 points.

GREENSBURG C.C. 56

Tyler White 2 0-1 6, Cole Reese 1 3-5 5, Sam Nowicki 1 2-2 5, Collin Liberatore 5 1-1 11, Romano Sebastiani 7 7-8 23, Domenic Rullo 3 0-0 6, Scott Riley 0 0-0 0. Totals: 19 13-17 56.

SENECA VALLEY 63

Zach Snyder 7 2-3 17, Jack Cook 4 1-2 11, T.J. Holl 4 0-0 8, Chad Izenas 1 2-4 4, Dakota Topf 8 3-5 21, Chris Hart 0 2-2 2, Cody Boozel 0 0-1 0, Matt Dramble 0 0-0 0, Andrew Smathers 0 0-0 0. Totals: 24 10-17 63.

Greensburg C.C. 10 17 6 23 — 56

Seneca Valley15 16 18 14 — 63

3-point goals: Greensburg Central Catholic 5 (White 2, Sebastiani 2, Nowicki); Seneca Valley 5 (Cook 2, Topf 2, Snyder).

Thursday: North Hills at Seneca Valley