BUFFALO TWP — When it comes down to crunch time, experience will win out.

That proved to be the case in the championship final of the Freeport Christmas Tournament.

Knoch used an 8-0 run bridging the third and fourth quarters to take a nine-point lead over Summit Academy and held off a late charge to escape with a 62-54 victory.

"That's what it boiled down to," said Summit Academy coach Larry Washington. "We have just one kid that played high school ball, Kasil Butler.

"Our first-year players, I'm not saying they can't handle the pressure, but that's a lot of pressure on the floor."

"(Summit Academy) broke us down with their quickness and dash in for layups," said Knoch coach Les Shoop. "We don't see that in our league. They're well-coached, they played hard and they love to play."

In the consolation final, Leechburg defeated Freeport 68-55.

Knoch used 3-pointers by Scott Muska and Bill Elliott to open an early 12-5 lead, but three consecutive baskets by Darnell Godfrey pulled Summit (3-7) to within one point.

With Knoch holding an 18-16 lead late in the first quarter, neither team led by more than three points until Elliott and Jordan Shoop scored the last two baskets of the third quarter to put Knoch (8-2) ahead 48-43.

Elliott scored nine points in the third quarter while Shoop scored the last basket of the third quarter, then stole a pass and scored 20 seconds into the fourth quarter.

He followed up with a defensive rebound, raced the length of the court and scored again to give Knoch a 52-43 lead with 7:17 left.

"We got balanced scoring," said Shoop. "We had four players in double figures. Alex Whisler had a big first half (10 points) and Jordan in the fourth quarter.

"He takes control. That's his job as a point guard and a senior. He shouldn't look to anyone else," Shoop added.

Summit Academy, though, refused fade away. Trailing 54-45, the Knights scored nine of the next 13 points, the final four off a pair of baskets by Godfrey, to pull to 58-54 with 1:34 remaining.

Jordan Shoop sank 4-of 5 free throws over the final 1:25 to close out the scoring.

"We started the season with a slowed-down offense, but (Thursday) we picked it up. Now we have to try and challenge," said Washington.

Godfrey finished with 24 points and Kasil Butler added 11 for Summit Academy. Orlando Burt, the No. 2 scorer in the Butler County area, finished with nine points.

Jordan Shoop led Knoch with 20 points, while Elliott added 14 points, Briggs 13 and Whisler 10.

Godfrey and Briggs were named to the all-tournament team while Shoop was named tournament MVP.

Freeport trailed 29-15 at the break and held a 52-41 lead with 5:40 remaining in the game before the Yellowjackets mounted a rally to close the gap to three points.A 3-pointer by A.J. Vidra 10 seconds later was followed by a basket and a pair of free throws by Brian Zimmerman to pull the Yellowjackets to 52-48 with 4:24 left.A 3-pointer by Nate Kotecki followed a basket by Leechburg to make it 54-51 with 3:54 left.The Blue Devils, however, hit five free throws over the next minute to pull away for good.Steve Predebon scored a game-high 28 points while Nick Matviko added 24 for the Blue Devils.Freeport received 19 points from Nate Kotecki, 15 from Vidra and 10 from Brady Sherrieb.Championship GameKNOCH 62Scott Muska 1 2-2 5, Jordan Shoop 7 6-9 20, Bill Elliott 6 0-0 14, Rob Briggs 5 2-5 13, Alex Whisler 4 0-0 10, Paul Hancheck 0 0-0 0, D'Ante Natili 0 0-0 0, Joel Berger 0 0-0 0. Totals: 23 10-16 62.SUMMIT ACADEMY 54Orlando Burt 2 5-6 9, Darnell Godfrey 12 0-0 24, William Dow 1 0-0 2, Kasil Butler 5 1-2 11, Tommy Wood 1 1-2 3, John Payne 0 0-0 0, Dreamount Tindell 0 0-0 0, Jerome Butler 2 0-0 5, Terrance Burton 0 0-0 0. Totals: 23 7-10 54.3-point goals:J. Butler; Elliott 2, Whisler 2, Muska, BriggsFriday:Clairton at Summit AcademyTuesday:Knoch at Deer LakesConsolation GameLEECHBURG 68Steve Predebon 7 6-10 28, Steve Medus 3 3-4 9, Nick Matviko 7 9-22 24, Todd Rupert 1 0-0 3, John Takosky 5 2-5 12. Totals: 23 20-41 68.FREEPORT 55Nate Kotecki 7 3-8 19, A.J. Vidra 5 2-2 15, Jordan Frantz 1 0-0 2, Brian Zimmerman 2 3-4 7, Nick Rutkoski 1 0-0 2, Brady Sherrieb 3 3-5 10, Sean Mientus 0 0-0 0, Sean Bollinger 0 0-0 0, Chris Tagmyer 0 0-0 0, Harrison Wood 0 0-0 0, Miles Smolic 0 0-0 0. Totals: 19 11-19 55.3-point goals:Matviko, Rupert; Vidra 3, Kotecki 2, SherriebTuesday:East Allegheny at Freeport