JEFFERSON TWP — The Highlands boys basketball team entered its section game against Knoch looking to remain undefeated.

Jake McTighe and Co. had other plans.

McTighe, a sophomore forward, scored 22 points and tallied 19 rebounds as the Knights defended their home floor with a thrilling 95-94 win in triple overtime Tuesday night.

Late in the deciding period, the Golden Rams took a 94-93 lead when Damon Porter drained his sixth 3-pointer of the game.

Highlands' Jeff Sinclair then had a chance to extend his team's lead, but he missed two free throws with 31.7 seconds remaining.

Knoch (5-2, 2-1) rebounded the second miss, drove the floor and got the ball into its star forward, Rob Briggs, who missed a shot in the paint.

But McTighe was there for the rebound and putback with five seconds left and gave the Knights a 95-94 lead.

Lacking timeouts, the Rams were unable to get off a final shot.

"Everyone on this team knows that every player is capable of coming up with a big shot," said McTighe. "It's just awesome to be part of this."

"We knew he was capable of a game like this," Knoch coach Chris Andreassi said of McTighe. "He had (16 points and 13 rebounds) earlier this season against Kittanning."

The Rams, who shot 33-of-92 for 35.8 percent from the field, entered the game averaging 86 points per game. And that was without any overtimes.

"This was by far our worst shooting performance of the year," said Rams coach Rick Falter. "But I give credit to Knoch. Both teams gave great efforts."

McTighe was by no means Knoch's lone star.

Kyle Reiser led the Knights with 24 points. It was his 3-pointer just before the buzzer in the second overtime that tied the score at 83-all.

At the end of the first overtime, it was Mike Gallagher's trey with 13 seconds left that tied the game at 74.

Gallagher and point guard Shawn Samek both fouled out of the game before the end of the second overtime.

Andreassi turned to two reserves — Andrew Wirtz and Preston Saxton — who played key roles down the stretch.

"Preston did a great job defensively and Andrew scored some big baskets for us," Andreassi said.

In fact, Wirtz scored eight points in the game, with four of them coming in the third overtime.

And Briggs had another solid performance with 19 points.

"Knoch ended up having so many easy baskets," said Falter. "I was very disappointed in our defensive effort down the stretch tonight."

The Rams (7-1, 3-1) were not without great individual performances.

The Rams hit an amazing 18 3-pointers as Porter (29), Reece Maybery (27) and Sinclair (25) all scored at least 25 points.

Sinclair's 3-pointer with 1:18 left in the third overtime momentarily tied the score at 91.

Maybery scored 12 points in a fourth quarter that saw the Rams score eight points in a span of 57 seconds to take their first lead of the second half.

Porter led all scorers at halftime with 16 points.

"This was just a great basketball game," said Andreassi. "Both teams played hard and clean.

"We hit a lot of big shots," he added. "But hats off to Highlands. They hit some incredible shots."

The Knoch-Highlands rivalry is becoming a spirited one.

The teams' first meeting last season resulted in a 58-55 win for the Rams. In the second meeting, Knoch broke Highlands' perfect 19-0 record.

Knoch will visit Highlands Jan. 22.

HIGHLANDS 94Damon Porter 11 1-2 29, Jeff Sinclair 9 2-4 25, Larry Alexander 2 3-6 9, Reuben King 0 1-2 1, Reece Maybery 10 3-4 27, Seth Edwards 1 0-0 3.

Totals: 33 10-18 94.

KNOCH 95Shawn Samek 3 0-0 7, Mike Gallagher 5 0-0 13, Andrew Wirtz 4 0-0 8, Kyle Reiser 10 2-2 24, Jake McTighe 11 0-1 22, Rob Briggs 7 5-6 19, Josh Lio 1 0-0 2, Preston Saxton 0 0-0 0.

Totals: 41 7-9 95.

Highlands 17 12 16 20 9 9 11—94Knoch 21 14 11 19 9 9 12—953-point goals: Highlands 18 (Porter 6, Sinclair 5, Maybery 4, Alexander 2, Edwards); Knoch 6 (Gallagher 3, Reiser 2, Samek).

JV: Knoch 46-45

Friday: Knoch at Hampton