CLARION — Size matters. Just ask Karns City.

Six-foot-7 senior Samuel Lawal pulled down 17 rebounds while dominating play inside Friday night in leading Erie First Christian Academy to a 57-48 PIAA Class 3A boys basketball victory over the Gremlins at Clarion University's Tippin Gymnasium.

“When you have a 6-7 kid who can leap like he can, it changes the game,” KC coach Chris Bellis said. “It changes the way you have to play.”

The Eagles (17-9) won for the seventh time in eight games. They led throughout, jumping out to leads of 7-0 and 20-5 early. The Gremlins (17-8) got back into the contest by sinking 3-pointers.

“We confuse a lot of teams for a while with our 2-3 zone,” EFCA coach Brad Kallay said. “Once they figured it out and got hot with those 3's, we had to switch to man.”

Bellis thought that was good news.

“When they went to a man defnse. it came down to execution,” Bellis said. “When you're playing a team better than you, you have to out-execute them.

“We had trouble getting open looks against their man-to-man defense. We couldn't free up enough.”

Noah Pollock sank four treys in the second quarter to help the Gremlins pull within five by halftime. When Jimmy Thompson stuck back an offensive rebound late in the third period — one of only four inside buckets KC generated all night — the deficit was down to 38-34 with a quarter to ply.

But KC would get no closer.

Jesse Luketa, a 6-3 junior forward, sank a layup, Lawal stuck back an offensive board and senior point guard Hunter Kallay stole the ball and drove the other way for a transition bucket. All of that happened less than two minutes into the fourth quarter as the Eagles opened up a 44-36 lead.

EFCA missed its first four free throws in the final quarter — including the front end of two one and one's — but the Gremlins could not take advantage.

A trey by Ian McElroy gave KC a fighting chance at 52-46 with 35 seconds left. But Luketa sank one free throw and guard Zam Chew added a pair to put the game out of reach.

“That (Karns City) team plays hard every minute. I can see how they've won a lot of games,” Coach Kallay said. “They came back from that bad start.”

McElroy paced the Gremlins with 21 points, six rebounds and three assists. Pollock added 18 points, four boards and a pair of steals. The duo combined for nine of KC's 10 treys.

“Ian had a great career for us,” Bellis said. “From the start of his junior year on, he kept getting better and better. Anytime we were down this year, we counted on him to bring us back.

“Noah was our most consistent player in the playoffs. He had double figures in all three of our playoff games.”

Hunter Kallay led the Eagles with 23 points, He scored 15 of those in the first half, but managed just one field goal in the final two quarters.

“They began face-guarding him and took him away. It was good defense,” Kallay's coach and father said.

Lawal had 15 points and three steals to go with his 17 rebounds. Luketa had 10 points and 13 boards.

“Even if you get past (Lawal), they have a Division I football recruit (Luketa) who's not bad in there, either,” Bellis said.

EFCA picked up its first-ever PIAA tournament win. The Eagles were 0-3 in PIAA play since joining the state association five years ago. They had played in a Christian league previously.

Seniors McElroy, Pollock, Eric Dodd, Thompson and Chandler Turner played their final game for the Gremlins.

“Hard-working group that got us the district title,” Bellis said. “They have plenty to be proud of.”

ERIE FIRST CHRISTIAN 57Andrew Montefeori 0-1 0-0 00-1 0-0 0, Jesse Luketa 3-8 4-9 10, Zam Chew 2-6 4-7 8 Samuel Lawal 8-10 0-2 16, Hunter Kallay 7-17 8-10 23, Jeremy Montefiori 0-5 0-0 0, Kaleb Bratt 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 20-47 16-28 57.KARNS CITY 48Noah Pollock 5-15 3-4 18, Noah Kepple 0-4 0-0 0, Ian McElroy 8-22 1-2 21, Nolan Riley 0-1 2-2 2, Jacob Friel 1-2 0-0n2, Eric Dodd 0-4 0-4 0, Jimmy Thompson 1-1 0-0 2, Chandler Turner 1-1 0-0 3. Totals: 16-50 6-12 48.E.F. Christian 18 11 9 19 — 57Karns City5 19 10 14 — 483-point goals: Kallay; Pollock 5, McIlroy 4, Turner