JACKSON TWP — A win was there for the taking.

The Seneca Valley boys basketball team had given up just 13 points in the first half of Friday's home section game with North Hills.

The Raiders held a double-digit lead early in the third quarter and were on the verge of taking a three-game section winning streak into the upcoming holiday.

That's when things turned ugly.

SV went eight minutes without scoring a point, missing 12 straight field goal attempts in that span, as North Hills rallied for a 40-38 win.

"We told the team that this is the kind of game we have to win if we want to get to that next level," said Raiders coach Vic Giannotta.

And SV had a chance to do just that at the end of the game.

North Hills' R.J. Miller sank a basket with 31 seconds left that put the Indians up 40-38.

SV got the ball to midcourt and called a timeout with 19.1 seconds left.

The Raiders' final possession ended with Dan Rohm attempting a 3-pointer from two feet behind the top of the arc just before the buzzer, but it did not fall.

"We were trying to get the ball in to C.J. (Brown) off a double screen, with (John) Fitzpatrick posting up and Rohm on the other side," said Giannotta. "We got a nice look at the end there, but I've been coaching here four seasons and we've never gotten a break on a shot at the end of a game."

But most of the blame for the loss must fall on the Raiders' inability to score for what amounted to a full period.

"I don't think the shot selection was bad," Giannotta said. "We just couldn't get anything to go in."

SV led 20-13 at halftime and had a 29-20 edge with 5:25 left in the third quarter.

The Indians (7-4, 2-2), who made just five of 19 field goal attempts in the first half, struggled in the third quarter as well.

That is until Dante Anglin's conventional three-point play with 2:52 left in the third made it 29-23.

The Indians followed it up with two quick steals that resulted in Miller's 3-pointer and a layup from Ryan Nauman.

In the span of 12 seconds, the Indians scored eight points to cut their deficit to 29-28.

"That was it," said Indians coach Buzz Gabos. "That was the sequence that turned the game around for us. After that, it was back to playing tough defense."

The Raiders (6-3, 2-3) did not score again until Fitzpatrick's score with 5:28 remaining gave the home team a 31-30 lead.

Baskets by Brown and Ryan Turner helped the Raiders take a 38-35 lead, but Anglin struck again with another three-point play with 1:39 left to tie the score at 38.

That set the stage for Miller's basket and the Indians' final defensive stand.

It isn't often that a high school basketball team can score 13 points in the first half and still win, but the Indians managed just that.

"As bad as we were offensively in the first half, I just told the kids that they still had to defend," said Gabos.

Brown led SV with 13 points while Anglin paced North Hills with 12, all of them in the second half.

NORTH HILLS 40Cody Patton 1 5-7 7, Jeff Mitterader 1 2-2 4, Greg Sencak 1 1-2 3, Ryan Nauman 3 0-0 6, R.J. Miller 3 0-0 8, Dante Anglin 4 4-6 12, D.J. Scott 0 0-0 0, Brandon Paulik 0 0-0 0. Totals: 13 12-17 40.

SENECA VALLEY 38John Fitzpatrick 2 0-0 5, Ryan Turner 3 0-0 6, C.J. Brown 6 1-1 13, Nate Herrmann 2 0-0 4, Dan Rohm 3 0-0 8, Dustin Anewalt 1 0-0 2, Sean Gress 0 0-0 0, Matt Vogt 0 0-0 0, Christian Durbin 0 0-0 0. Totals: 17 1-1 38.

North Hills 2 11 15 12—40Seneca Valley 7 13 9 9—383-point goals: North Hills 2 (Miller 2); Seneca Valley 3 (Rohm 2, Fitzpatrick)

JV: Seneca Valley 68-48

Saturday: Seneca Valley at Mohawk