BUTLER TWP — Refuse to lose.

It's simple. It's to the point. And it's the Grove City Highboys basketball mantra these days.

Refuse to lose was written on the blackboard in the Grove City locker room at Butler HighSchool Tuesday night, and the Eagles heeded every word in a 70-64, triple-overtime win over Ambridge in the second round of the PIAA Class AAA playoffs.

"You never lost faith. It was just a heck of a win," Grove City coach Don Fee said to his team after the game. "Refuse to lose. It's right up there on the board, and you did it."

Grove City refused to lose when it blew a double-digit lead in the second half.

It refused to lose when Ambridge guard Jared Gibson stood at the line needing to make two free throws to beat them at the end of regulation, but he only made one.

It refused to lose when the Eagles were down by three points with 11 seconds left in the second overtime before Jordan Fee hit a high-arching 3-pointer that might as well have been launched from Lyndora.

And it wore out Ambridge in the final overtime, scoring 17 points — all but two from the free throw line.

"It looked pretty bleak there a couple of times," Don Fee said. "It wasn't very pretty at times, but both teams were able to scratch and claw and find ways."

Kyle Perrine was perfect on all 10 shots from the line in the fourth quarter and the overtime periods for Grove City (25-4), and Danny Keil came up big with 24 points and a constant presence on defense.

Early in the second half, it looked like the Eagles would walk away with their first second-round state playoff win in 13 years.

Grove City was up 32-19 with five minutes remaining in the third quarter before Ambridge (20-9), sparked by point guard Slade Unis, went on a 13-2 run to cut the lead to 34-32.

The Bridgers spent most of the fourth quarter getting within a score of taking their first lead of the game, only to be turned away.

And they did it with Unis, their leading scorer and playmaker, on the bench after he fouled out early in the fourth quarter with 15 points and 12 assists.

Ambridge trailed by a point with 2.9 seconds and had Gibson at the line shooting two with a chance to win.

During a Grove City timeout before the free throw attempts, Gibson appeared to be confident, and Unis told him, "It's just like practice."

But Gibson missed his first attempt and then rattled in his second to send the game to the first overtime period.

"We had a chance to win it at the line with two seconds left in regulation," said Ambridge coachRon Rowan. "You have to get it done. In the state playoffs, you have to make those shots."

Ambridge took its first lead of the game seconds into the first overtime. In the second overtime, it looked like the Bridgers had control of the game before Jordan Fee's shot.

Fee said he didn't really remember what he was thinking before launching the shot, just that he needed to be the one to shoot it.

"To be honest, it's a complete blur to me," he said. "I'm going to shoot the shot. Someone's going to have to shoot it, it might as well as be me."

Ambridge took a 55-53 lead at the start of the third overtime before Grove City took control at the free throw line.

The Eagles were 32-of-43 from the stripe in the game. They took only 38 shots from the field in the 44 minutes of play and attempted only 12 shots in the fourth quarter and three overtime periods combined.

They didn't have to shoot because Grove City scored 26 of its 36 points in the fourth quarter and overtime from the line.

This is the furthest into the state playoffs Grove City has advanced since the 1992-93 season.

The Eagles will play Susquehanna Township Friday in the state quarterfinals at a site and time to be determined.

GROVE CITY 70Jordan Fee 4-7 5-8 15, Ben Liebling 1-4 0-0 3, Danny Keil 6-11 12-15 24, Maxx Stutz 2-6 5-8 10, Kyle Perrine 1-3 10-10 12, KeithDonaldson 1-1 0-0 2, Kent Denbow 0-0 0-0 0, Ryan McNamara 2-6 0-2 4.

Totals: 17-38 32-43 70

AMBRIDGE 64Chris Mylan 1-1 0-0 2, Matt Morski 0-2 0-2 0, Frank Karl 1-4 2-2 4, Robert Gaiton 9-10 1-2 19, Zach Delo 2-5 0-0 4, Slade Unis 5-15 1-1 11, Jared Gibson 4-16 7-12 15, Travis Anderson 1-4 1-3 3, Frank Unis 3-5 0-0 6.

Totals: 26-62 12-22 64

Grove City 16 8 10 9 6 4 17—70Ambridge 8 9 13 13 6 4 11—643-point goals: Grove City 2 (Fee, Stutz)

Friday: Grove City vs. Susquehanna Township, site time TBD