SLIPPERY ROCK — There are a lot of what-ifs these days for the Grove City High boys basketball team.

What if Kyle Perrine's shot had fallen Monday night against GeneralMcLane?

What if the Eagles had upset the defending state champion Lancers? What if they hadn't gone into an early swoon against Meadville in the District 10 Class AAA consolation game Thursday night at SlipperyRock University?

What if their season hadn't come to a painful end?

Grove City never was really in the game against the Bulldogs — a 15-0 Meadville run in the first half saw to that — in a 63-38 loss.

"Meadville played a great basketball game," said Grove City coach DonFee. "We're one shot away against McLane, then we would have been playingFranklin here tonight and maybe it would have been a different story."

Instead, the story was gruesome for the Eagles.

Grove City (16-11) led 5-3 two minutes into the game before Meadville went on its run.

When the dust settled and the Eagles gazed up at the scoreboard, they were down 18-5.

"Believe it or not, we don't play with a lot of confidence, so getting off to a start like that was huge for us," said Meadville coach Norm Price.

Meadville (17-10) was coming off a heartbreaking loss toFranklin.

But Price said, at least to his eyes, it was obvious Grove City's loss greatly affected its players.

"It had to," Price said. "That was a terrific basketball game, and I think it took the wind out of them."

Fee didn't see it the same way. He said he thought his team was energetic in practice in the two days between games and that his team was ready to play.

The Eagles just weren't ready for Meadville's size and speed inside.

With two starters standing taller than 6-foot-5, Grove City had trouble scoring in the paint.

Maxx Stutz, Grove City's tallest player at 6-3, scored 18 points, but most of his baskets came on jumpers from the foul line.

"They are tough. Not many high school teams have that height and that kind of athletic ability," Fee said. "They defended us very well tonight."

That allowed Toney Phillips to do his thing on the offensive end, as the Meadville guard slashed to the hoop for 21 points to lead all scorers.

Meadville will play the District 9 Class AAA runner-up in a PIAA play-in game Tuesday.

Grove City is in the unusual position of sitting out the state playoffs.

"It's a little tough not getting there because I really felt like we were capable of getting there," Fee said.

Price agreed, heaping praise upon Fee.

"I think he did the best coaching job inDistrict 10 this year," Price said. "For what they lost and with what they had coming back, wow, they were good. But Don always does a great job."

Grove City will lose four seniors who made significant contributions this season: Stutz, DerekForese, KeithRundle and RyanMcNamara.

"I'm proud of what our kids have done this year," Fee said. "We've had some great wins and some tough losses. We just had trouble with consistency this year. We learned a lot. Hopefully the guys coming back will build on what we accomplished this year."

MEADVILLE 63Toney Phillips 6-15 9-13 21, AaronBarton 7-15 2-2 16, Raymond Hamilton 3-5 3-6 9, Derek Cowan 3-8 0-0 9, James Hess 3-5 0-2 6, Tyler Crain 0-0 0-0 0, Adam Burba 1-2 0-0 2. Totals: 23-50 14-23 63

GROVECITY 38Maxx Stutz 7-11 2-2 18, Ryan McNamara 1-3 2-2 4, Patrick Johnson 3-9 0-0 7, Kyle Perrine 2-8 0-0 5, Dwayne Martin 0-5 0-0 0, DerekForese 1-5 0-0 3, Jeff Hershberger 0-1 0-0 0, KeithRundle 0-1 0-0 0, David Cooper 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 14-43 4-5 38

Meadville 16 12 13 22—63Grove City 5 10 16 7—383-point goals: Cowan 3; Stutz 2, Johnson 2, Perrine, Forese