CLARION - Tyler Callihan was being denied the ball, but Karns City wouldn't be denied victory.

Trailing by six points with 5:30 remaining, the Gremlins outscored Cranberry 18-3 from that point to secure a 62-53 District 9 Class AA boys basketball semifinal victory Tuesday night at Clarion University.

"I'm sure some fans in the stands were getting nervous," Callihan said. "But we've been in that situation plenty of times this year.

"It usually works out for us."

The Gremlins (18-7) will play Port Allegany - a 63-53 winner over Keystone - at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Clarion University in the district championship game.

Even though Callihan didn't score a point, Karns City built a 15-5 lead by early in the second quarter. Cranberry (13-13) rallied and the lead changed hands six times in the final 1:40 of the half. The Gremlins took a 26-25 lead to the locker room despite getting just two points from Callihan on a layup with 30 seconds left.

"A lot of people think we can't win without Callihan having a big night," Karns City coach Steve Andreassi said. "These kids proved they can."

The Gremlins built a 34-27 lead early in the third quarter, but the Berries knotted the game at 41 on a 3-pointer by Steve Persing with 17 seconds left in the period.

Persing drained another trey to begin the fourth quarter, and when Hank Heeter added a 3-pointer with 5:30 to play, Cranberry had a 50-44 advantage.

"Our kids played hard," Cranberry coach Rita Heeter said. "We just couldn't hit a shot. We're a 3-point shooting team and we kind of died with that tonight."

Persing's trey late in the third quarter was Cranberry's first 3-pointer of the night. The Berries missed 14 of their last 15 shots from the floor.

Despite missing two one-and-ones, Karns City used a 13-0 run to secure a 57-50 lead with 1:28 remaining. Nathan Knox, the Gremlins' leading scorer with 19 points, stuck back an offensive rebound and completed a three-point play to begin the run.

Two free throws by Callihan ended it. Callihan sank 8 of 12 free throws in the fourth quarter and finished with 18 points.

Callihan also had 12 rebounds, six assists and four blocked shots.

"He's a good helper on defense," Andreassi said. "Tyler does all of the little things well and every team needs a player like that.

"Nathan Knox stepped up big defensively in shutting down Persing, and he came through offensively when we couldn't get Tyler the ball."

Knox scored 11 of his 19 points in the first half. Persing, Cranberry's leading scorer this season, sank just 4 of 17 shots from the floor.

"I'm happier with my defense tonight than my offense," Knox said. "I like the challenge of taking away the other team's top scorer.

"They were doubling down on Tyler and denied him the ball. We don't mind that because it opens things up for the rest of us."

Mark Ferguson had eight points and Ryan Earley contributed seven of 37 Karns City rebounds.

Karns City put the game away in the final five minutes despite sinking only 11 of 20 free throws.

The Gremlins defeated Cranberry 54-50 and 82-75 during the regular season.

"Callihan beat us in both of those games and our goal was to not let him beat us again," Heeter said. "I thought we accomplished that. I was surprised by the scoring they got from the other kids."

Jake Heeter, the coach's son, paced Cranberry with 25 points and 15 of the Berries' 40 rebounds.

"We count on Jake for rebounding," Heeter said. "This was one of his best all-around games."

But it wasn't good enough on this night.

"We hadn't played in 11 days. My biggest fear was that we'd get tired out there and we did," Andreassi said. "But they tired out before we did."

CRANBERRY 53

Luiz Goncalves 0-9 2-3 2, Hank Heeter 1-4 0-0 3, Bobby Zeigler 1-3 0-0 3, Jake Heeter 10-18 5-7 25, Gavin Buckholtz 0-1 0-0 0, Steve Persing 4-17 0-0 10, Shane O'Neil 2-3 1-2 5, Brad Rembold 2-3 1-1 5. Totals: 20-58 9-13 53

KARNS CITY 62

David Black 1-5 0-0 2, Steve Black 1-1 1-2 3, Tyler Callihan 5-16 8-12 18, Nathan Knox 8-15 2-3 19, Mark Ferguson 3-7 0-3 8, Ryan Earley 3-6 0-2 6, Josh Behrens 3-8 0-0 6, Josh Fiscus 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 24-58 11-22 62

3-point goals:

Heeter, Zeigler, Persing 2; Knox, Ferguson 2

Thursday:

Karns City vs. Port Allegany, District 9 Class AA championship game @ Clarion University, 6:30 p.m.