WEXFORD — The Seneca Valley boys basketball team was a little more than four minutes from turning the WPIAL Quad A playoffs upside down.

Four days after winning the first playoff game in the program's history, the Raiders had No. 1 seeded Moon on the ropes midway through the fourth quarter of Tuesday's first-round affair at North Allegheny High School.

SV led the Tigers 42-38 with 4:29 remaining in the fourth period.

But Moon, the Section 4 champion, managed a 22-11 run the rest of the way to take a 60-53 win at North Allegheny High School.

"To win a championship, you're going to have to play a game like this, one that can go either way," said Moon coach Jeff Ackermann. "Our goal was to advance. It didn't matter how we did it, just advance."

And the Tigers advanced with free throws. Moon was 16-of-20 for 80 percent from the line in the final period.

The Raiders did not score a point in a span of 2:57 and watched their 4-point edge become a 51-42 deficit by the two-minute mark.

"Moon won tonight because they had the playoff experience," said Giannotta of the Tigers, who, before moving up to Quad A this season, won three straight WPIAL Class AAA titles. "But we gave 'em all they could handle. Our kids weren't intimidated at all."

John Bryant broke SV's scoreless streak late in the fourth quarter with a free throw and C.J. Brown followed with a 2-point basket to cut Moon's advantage to 51-45 with 1:34 left, but the Raiders would get no closer.

Moon's Brian Walsh, who led all scorers with 21 points, went 7-for-9 from the line in the final period. His two misses came with less than five seconds left to play.

"We've got seven guys on this team who have been part of a WPIAL title team," said Ackermann. "And we're confident in them when we need big free throws."

Moon (22-3) jumped out to an early 9-2 lead and led 17-11 at the end of the first quarter.

But SV's defense held the Tigers to six points in the second period and the Raiders trailed just 23-22 at the break.

Moon made only two of 14 field goal attempts in the quarter.

"I think we kept them off-balance a bit when we changed up our zone," Giannotta said.

Senior guard Gabe Grinder led the Raiders (13-13) with 12 points, including a 3-pointer that gave SV its first lead of the fourth quarter, 39-38, with 5:01 to play.

Seniors Kevin Mayberry and Pat Heery each added nine points for SV.

"I'm proud of our seniors, and this will be a good experience for our underclassmen," said Giannotta.

Andy Dowdell scored 15 points for the Tigers, Mike Battles had 11 points and Chris Jeannot chipped in with 10.

SENECA VALLEY 53Gabe Grinder 5 0-0 12, Kevin Mayberry 4 0-0 9, Pat Heery 3 3-8 9, John Bryant 2 2-3 6, C.J. Brown 4 1-1 9, John Fitzpatrick 2 2-2 6, Jarrett Shotts 1 0-0 2, Shawn Eagle 0 0-0 0, Kevin Rohm 0 0-0 0.

Totals: 21 8-14 53.

MOON 60LAndy Dowdell 3 8-9 15, Chris Jeannot 4 2-4 10, Brian Walsh 5 10-13 21, Keir Jeter 0 1-2 1, Mike Battles 3 5-6 11, Tyler Goehring 1 0-0 2, Vince Valenzi 0 0-1 0, Kevin Phillip 0 0-0 0.

Totals: 16 26-35 60.

Seneca Valley 11 11 14 17—53Moon 17 6 13 24—603-point goals: Seneca Valley 3 (Grinder 2, Mayberry); Moon 2 (Dowdell, Walsh).