JACKSON TWP — Confidence.

It just might be the ingredient Seneca Valley boys basketball teams of the past were lacking.

But the Raiders have it now and they certainly played with it Tuesday night as SV received clutch shots from several players and its defense frustrated North Allegheny the entire game in a 56-40 victory.

It's the first section loss for the Tigers (15-2, 7-1), who were beaten to loose balls all night by the Raiders.

"You'd like to win those battles every game, but it didn't happen tonight," said NA coach Dave DeGregorio. "(The Raiders) got to more loose balls, they outrebounded us and they were just the better team."

Two SV players, senior John Fitzpatrick and freshman Christian Durbin, scored career highs in points with 18 and 13, respectively.

Both performances included crucial baskets when the game was still in doubt.

Fitzpatrick scored 11 of his points in the first half, including nine in the second quarter, as the Raiders led 25-18 at intermission.

He added 11 rebounds for a double-double.

"I got my points in the flow of the game," said Fitzpatrick. "I really didn't do anything special."

But it was a special effort as far as SV coach Vic Giannotta was concerned.

"Offensively and defensively, this was his best game," Giannotta said. "And he did it for a full 32 minutes."

As for Durbin, he came off the bench to score seven points in the second quarter before adding a pair of 3-pointers in the second half, including one that halted an NA run and extended the Raiders' lead to 45-30 with 7:45 left in the game.

"This was a pretty big game for me," Durbin said. "It's fun to be out there when we're scoring a lot of points. Hopefully, we can continue this kind of play into the playoffs."

Giannotta has no reservations about sending a freshman point guard into a Quad A section game as the playoffs near.

"My confidence level in Christian is sky high right now," he said.

The Raiders shot 22-of-38 (58 percent) from the field in the final three quarters.

As well as SV's offense played from the second quarter on, it was not in sync in the first period.

The Raiders committed seven turnovers and trailed 8-5 entering the second quarter.

But Giannotta was encouraged.

"It was 8-5 after the first quarter," he said. "NA is a team that averages, what, 77 points a game?

"We told the kids to just take care of the basketball and we'd be fine."

And the Raiders were.

They outrebounded the Tigers 13-4 in the second quarter and ended the game with a 34-26 advantage.

The Raiders also forced 28 turnovers from the Tigers.

NA failed to have a player score in double figures, as Nick Dvorsky led the team with nine points.

Seneca Valley (13-5, 5-3) ended with three players in double figures as C.J. Brown scored 10 points and added 12 rebounds.

"I expect that kind of play out of this team," said Fitzpatrick. "I'm proud of this team's effort."

NORTH ALLEGHENY 40Ted Connolly 4 0-1 8, Nick Dvorsky 4 0-0 9, Jeff Haus 3 1-1 8, Jeff Finke 2 0-0 5, Stephane Batton 2 0-0 4, Dan Kusnyer 2 1-3 6, Ian Thomas 0 0-0 0, Damian Founds 0 0-0 0, Steve Kirsh 0 0-0 0, Geoff Greco 0 0-0 0, Andy Blummer 0 0-0 0.

Totals: 17 2-5 40.

SENECA VALLEY 56John Fitzpatrick 8 2-4 18, Ryan Turner 1 0-0 2, C.J. Brown 5 0-1 10, Nate Herrmann 2 1-2 5, Dan Rohm 2 0-0 6, Dustin Anewalt 1 0-0 2, Christian Durbin 5 1-2 13, Sean Gress 0 0-0 0.

Totals: 24 4-9 56.

North Allegheny 8 10 8 14—40Seneca Valley 5 20 17 14—563-point goals: North Allegheny 4 (Dvorsky, Haus, Finke, Kusnyer); Seneca Valley 4 (Rohm 2, Durbin 2)

JV: Seneca Valley 61-52

Friday: Seneca Valley at New Castle