NEW CASTLE — Most coaches don't look forward to playing the New Castle boys basketball team on the road.

But Seneca Valley coach Vic Giannotta is starting to enjoy it.

SV's Gabe Grinder blocked Anthony Harvey's 3-point attempt with just under two seconds to play, giving the Raiders a 39-36 Section 3-AAAA win.

The Raiders' lone section win last season was a 49-33 upset on the Red Hurricanes' home floor.

"I have a lot of respect for (New Castle coach) John Sarandrea and I love coming to New Castle," said Giannotta. "My first year (2004-05) as Seneca's coach, I missed the game here because I'd been ejected from the previous game and was serving a suspension."

That game ended in a 70-38 loss for the Raiders, but Giannotta is 2-for-2 at the Lawrence County school.

SV (5-3, 1-2) dropped its first two section games of the season to Pine-Richland and North Allegheny. Starting 0-3 in section play would have put the team in a very deep hole.

With one minute left in the game, C.J. Brown gave the Raiders the lead with a baseline jumper that made it 37-36.

Before coming up with the game-saving block, Grinder rebounded Harvey's miss on a layup and made two free throws after being fouled with 6.4 seconds left in the game. That increased SV's lead to 39-36.

Harvey's last shot that would have tied the game came from the right corner of the floor in front of his own bench.

Grinder's block was clean, and Harvey sank to the floor in disappointment.

"The block was good," said Giannotta. "In no way, shape or form did Gabe come close to fouling him."

Even a win would not have erased the frustration Sarandrea felt after his team's lackluster offensive performance, however.

"High school basketball games in the 30s, that's foreign to me," said Sarandrea. "This is not New Castle basketball. We're playing substandard right now. I'll take responsibility for it, but it's very hard to watch."

The Red Hurricanes (5-5, 1-2) made only one of 10 field goal attempts in the fourth quarter and scored just four points in the period.

The team was 3-of-16 from 3-point range in the game.

"They weren't blindfolded out there. ... They had good looks," insisted Sarandrea.

Harvey was the game's high scorer with 10 points.

Seneca Valley was led by Brown and Kevin Mayberry, who each managed nine points.

It was a halfcourt heave by Mayberry that gave the Raiders a two-point lead at intermission.

Trailing 22-21, the Raiders inbounded the ball from underneath their own basket with just 1.6 seconds remaining in the first half.

Mayberry, who was out of the game with three fouls, re-entered and took the inbounds pass at midcourt and threw up a prayer that was answered with a bank shot.

"We work on that play all the time in practice," said Giannotta.

SENECA VALLEY 39Gabe Grinder 2 2-2 7, Kevin Mayberry 4 0-1 9, Kevin Rohm 0 2-2 2, Pat Heery 1 4-5 6, C.J. Brown 4 1-2 9, John Fitzpatrick 2 0-0 4, Shawn Eagle 1 0-1 2, Sean Gress 0 0-0 0, Jarrett Shotts 0 0-0 0. Totals: 14 9-13 39.

NEW CASTLE 36Dareese Henderson 2 0-0 5, Anthony Harvey 2 6-8 10, Nick Colella 0 1-4 1, Rodney Parchman 2 0-0 4, Michael Andrews 4 0-1 8, Michael Cox 3 0-0 8. Totals: 13 7-13 36.

Seneca Valley 9 15 5 10—39New Castle 6 16 10 4—363-point goals: Seneca Valley 2 (Grinder, Mayberry); New Castle 3 (Cox 2, Henderson)

JV: Seneca Valley 55-32

Thursday: Seneca Valley vs. Erie Strong Vincent at Community College of Beaver County