JACKSON TWP — A 6-13 record seems to signify a lot of frustration, but Seneca Valley boys basketball coach Victor Giannotta offered a unique perspective.

“Have games been frustrating? Yes,” he said after his Raiders fell to 1-9 in section play with a 53-43 loss to visiting Pine-Richland Friday night. “But the season hasn’t been frustrating for me because the kids haven’t stopped working. That’s a credit to them.”

Senior guard Jamir Carter echoed his coach’s sentiments.

“Nobody on the team isn’t giving 100 percent,” Carter said. “And that goes for the guys coming in off the bench to the starters. We can’t dwell on past games. All we can do is continue to improve and hope to get a win in the next game.”

Friday’s contest played out like much of the Raiders’ season: a few encouraging spurts here and there at both ends of the floor, but ultimately, not enough to win.

SV trailed just 42-37 after three quarters of play, but the late push Giannotta was looking for never came. The Raiders scored just six points in the fourth period, shooting only 3-of-13 from the floor. Justin Koken’s steal led to a layup by Payton Skalos, cutting the Rams’ lead to 48-43 with 1:54 to play, but they were the final two points SV would score.

The victory was the 11th straight for Pine-Richland (14-4, 8-2).

“I believe they are definitely a contender for a WPIAL championship,” said Giannotta.

The Raiders’ defense did succeed in containing junior guard Andrew Petcash, who is the Rams’ leading scorer at 22 points per game. He tallied just eight points against SV, but Phil Jurkovec picked up the slack with 19 points.

“I thought we’d been playing really well coming into this game, but we did not play our best tonight,” said Pine-Richland coach Jeff Ackermann. “But I do like the fact that we can win a game without our best player scoring.”

The Raiders attempted just nine free throws. The inability to consistently get to the foul line has hampered the team this season.

“We have to do a better job of playing the game from the inside out,” said Giannotta. “We want to get to the line more. That’s part of our game plan that we haven’t executed well.”

Jack Cook scored 16 points for SV and Skalos contributed 14.

Jurkovec, a sophomore forward, threw for over 2,500 yards and 20 touchdowns for Pine-Richland’s football team last fall. With the WPIAL playoffs looming, he may be hitting his stride on the court at just the right time.

“All that wear and tear with football, I think it was affecting his shot earlier in the season,” Ackermann said. “But starting with the second North Allegheny game (Jan. 19), he started to play a lot better. When healthy, I think he is one of the best athletes in the WPIAL.”

The Rams can clinch at least a share of the section title with a win over North Hills on Tuesday.

PINE-RICHLAND 53

Nolan Rausch 0 2-2 2, Adam Alexander 3 1-1 7, Andrew Petcash 3 1-2 8, Alex Goitz 2 0-0 5, Andrew Kristofic 1 0-0 2, Phil Jurkovec 7 5-8 19, Kordell Kirkland 1 1-2 3, Charles Tortorice 3 0-0 7. Totals: 20 10-15 53.

SENECA VALLEY 43

Jamir Carter 2 0-0 5, Nate Trzeciak 1 0-1 2, Payton Skalos 4 4-4 14, Jack Cook 8 0-1 16, Chris Hart 2 0-1 4, Mark Smathers 1 0-0 2, Patrick Uher 0 0-2 0, Matt Trotta 0 0-0 0, Josh Balog 0 0-0 0, Justin Koken 0 0-0 0, Andrew Smathers 0 0-0 0. Totals: 18 4-9 43.

Pine-Richland 14 14 14 11 — 53

Seneca Valley14 9 14 6 — 43

3-point goals: Pine-Richland 3 (Petcash, Goitz, Tortorice); Seneca Valley 3 (Skalos 2, Carter).

Saturday: Seneca Valley at Montour