CLARION — After an ice-cold start, Moniteau was within striking distance of Brockway in Thursday's District 9 Class AA boys basketball semifinal playoff game.

Then the Rovers struck back.

After trailing by as many as 13 points early in the second quarter, the Warriors battled back, cutting the deficit to 30-27 with 3:37 left in the third quarter.

However, the Rovers mounted a 9-0 run in a 90-second span and went on to post a 60-39 victory.

The spurt started when Brockway's Craig Anderson was fouled attempting a 3-point shot. He drained two free throws, which were followed by a score by Aaron Shaffer, a three-point play by Anderson and a pair of free throws by Mark Shannon.

Before Moniteau knew it, the Rovers possessed a 39-27 lead.

"Every time we made a run, they'd bounce back and bump it back up," said Moniteau coach Randy Armagost.

Moniteau (10-13) cut the deficit to eight points on two occasions, the latter after Kyle Armagost scored and Clayton Casper made a steal and scored to make it 41-33 with 6:32 remaining in the fourth quarter.

But the Rovers (14-10) polished off the win when they embarked on a 14-0 run to take a commanding 57-35 lead with 1:56 left in the game.

"We kept cutting it to three, to five, to four," said Armagost. "The team just ran out of gas in those last three or four minutes. We weren't moving as quick."

Another factor that stymied the Warriors was the play of 6-foot-5 senior center Mark Shannon, who recorded a triple double of 14 points, 18 rebounds and 10 blocked shots.

"That killed us," said Armagost. "Our game is to take it inside."

Shannon had 10 points and 11 boards in the first half, with nine of those points coming in the first quarter as the Rovers built a 14-3 lead.

"Mark does generally what we need him to do," said Rovers coach Kurt Becker. "He's a presence. He's always there defensively."

Moniteau made just 1-of-13 shots in the first quarter and trailed 16-3 to start the second quarter.

"We had some great looks in the first quarter and even had their big guy off the floor for a while," said Armagost. "We just didn't get it to go."

With the close of the season, the Warriors bid farewell to three seniors: Casper, Josh Madru and Tyler Armagost.

"We're going to miss them. They set the tone for the underclassmen," Armagost said.

Zach McCormick led Moniteau with 13 points and Tyler Armagost had 10 points and eight rebounds.

Armagost, who passed the 1,000-point mark Feb. 12, finished the game with eight rebounds, leaving him two shy of 1,000.

Nick Anderson added 14 points and Cory Anderson had 10 points for Brockway, which will face Cranberry, a 55-44 winner over Kane in the other semifinal, Feb. 27.

MONITEAU 39Clayton Casper 1 0-0 2, Zach Sloan 4 1-2 9, Tyler Armagost 5 0-0 10, Zach McCormick 5 1-1 13, Kyle Armagost 2 0-0 5, Josh Madru 0 0-0 0, Mitch Hunter 0 0-0 0, Jereme Loos 0 0-0 0. Totals: 17 2-3 39.

BROCKWAY60Craig Anderson 2 4-6 9, Aaron Shaffer 2 2-2 6, Mark Shannon 5 4-5 14, Nick Anderson 3 8-10 14, Cody Anderson 5 0-1 10, Shane Horner 0 0-0 0, Mike Vervoort 0 0-0 0, Mike Robinson 0 0-0 0, Derek Buganza 2 3-3 7, Ryan Shaffer 0 0-0 0, Josh Allen 0 0-0 0, Brad Welsh 0 0-0 0, Kyle Cappetta 0 0-0 0, Bryan Ellenberger 0 0-0 0. Totals: 19 21-27 60.

Moniteau 3 18 8 10—39Brockway 14 12 15 19—603-point goals: McCormick 2, K. Armagost; C. Anderson