EDINBORO — Grove City just didn’t have enough Friday.

The Eagles were outmatched by Strong Vincent to lose the District 10 4A Championship game, 66-39, at Edinboro University’s McComb Fieldhouse.

“(Strong Vincent) outplayed us in every facet of the game,” said Grove City coach Jeff Loughry. “On the boards, in transition and they played very well tonight in 5-on-5 situations.”

The Colonels (23-3) controlled the game almost from the start. After Grove City’s Kyle Barger nailed a hook shot in the lane early, Vincent’s David Morris answered with two 3-pointers and Aje Gore sank another, and the Colonels led 9-4 midway through the first.

They built on that lead to head into the second quarter 18-9, and the margin only grew from there.

A bucket from Vincent’s William Lyons put the Colonels up 28-17 up late in the second, and the Eagles never trailed by less than double digits for the rest of the game.

Loughry noted that while the Colonels never went on a major run, they were able to expand their lead with steadiness on both ends of the floor.

“I don’t think we got worn down,” he said. “I just think that they consistently measured us and beat us three out of four plays the entire game.”

The Colonels shot a sizzling 7 of 11 in the third quarter to take a comfortable 50-26 lead into the final eight minutes of play, and rode that lead safely to victory and their second straight District 10 title.

“We just came and played,” said Strong Vincent coach Shannon Pullium. “We played a full 32 minutes today, and that’s what we’ve been asking for, playing 32 minutes of pressure basketball. I felt like we did and we executed. We just played and we beat a good team.”

Strong Vincent shot 62 percent from the floor, while Grove City shot just 38 percent.

Loughry weighed in on his team’s shooting woes.

“Not shooting well hurt us, but I thought two keys of the game were to control our backboard — and they got offensive put-backs — and the second thing was to get to their 3-point shooters as well as take away their penetration,” he said. “They shot it too well. That’s partially their offensive ability, and that’s partially we didn’t guard as well as we should have.”

Marcus Citron led Grove City (19-6) with 10 points, while Isaac Thrasher added nine. Khamoni Moye led Vincent with 17 points, while Gore scored 14 and Morris had 13.

With the loss, Grove City will enter the PIAA tournament and play the WPIAL No. 3 seed.

The Eagles will play either Central Valley or Beaver Falls in the first round of the PIAA 4A playoffs March 11.

That is contingent on the winner of the New Castle-Quaker Valley WPIAL championship game scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday.

If New Castle wins, Grove City will play Central Valley, while if Quaker Valley wins, Grove City will play Beaver Falls.

STRONG VINCENT 66

Khamoni Moye 6-7 3-5 17, David Morris 3-7 5-6 13, Jron Rickert 0-0 0-0 0, Tahjmere Jones 3-5 1-2 7, Edward Thompson 0-0 2-2 2, Samad Bailey 1-1 0-0 2, Darryl Freeman 0-0 0-0 0, Jerome Henderson 1-2 3-3 5, Aje Gore 4-9 4-4 14, William Lyons 3-3 0-0 6. Totals: 21-34 18-22 66.

GROVE CITY 39

Qadir Muhammad 0-0 2-2 2, Isaac Thrasher 3-5 2-2 9, Kameron Patterson 2-6 0-0 6, Marcos Citron 4-10 0-0 10, Andrew Mason 0-0 0-0 0, Martin Beatty 1-2 0-0 2, Logan Lutz 0-6 1-2 1, Brayden Martin 2-4 1-1 5, Kyle Barger 1-1 2-2 4. Totals: 13-34 8-9 39.

Strong Vincent 18 12 20 16 — 66

Grove City9 8 9 13 — 39

3-point goals: Strong Vincent 6 (Moye 2, Morris 2, Gore 2); Grove City 5 (Paterson 2, Citron 2, Thrasher)

March 11: Grove City vs. either Central Valley or Beaver Falls in first round of PIAA 4A playoffs, site and time to be determined