Raiders ousted in 2 OTs
ALTOONA — Heart, guts and determination — they were all there.
The only thing missing from the Seneca Valley boys basketball team's performance in the closing moments was one final basket.
Trailing State College 55-54 in double overtime, the Raiders had possession with under 10 seconds to go when senior C.J. Brown began a baseline drive to the left of the basket.
Two steps into his move, a State College player stepped into Brown's path and the latter appeared to have drawn a blocking foul.
But no call was made and, as both players lost their balance from the collision, the ball squirted free and was picked up by State College's Jay Franklin, who was immediately fouled with 2.9 seconds left on the clock.
<table width="300" height="275" border="0" align="right" valign="top" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><embed src="/assets/mov/BE6557239.MOV" width="320" height="250" autostart="true" loop="false" ></embed></td></tr><tr><td align="center"><a href="http://www.apple.com/quicktime/" target="_blank"><span class="style11">Requires Quicktime Media Player </a><br><font size="1" face="Tahoma, Times New Roman">Video by Brandon Gerthoffer</font></span><td></tr></table>Franklin made his first free throw to push his team's lead to two points before missing his second attempt.SV gained the rebound and the Raiders' last hope was Christian Durbin's heave from midcourt which didn't fall and the Little Lions celebrated a hard-fought 56-54 win in a PIAA Quad A first-round playoff Saturday at Altoona High School.Raiders' coach Victor Giannotta declined to comment on the no-call in his team's end of the floor, choosing to focus on the mood in the locker room following the game."I cried in the locker room," he said. "Nineteen years of coaching and it was the first time I cried after a game."I can't say enough about these kids," Giannotta added. "Unfortunately, the season ended today."After Durbin drained two free throws to tie the game at 48 near the end of regulation, both teams managed just two points in the first overtime.Seneca Valley's first lead in the game came when Brown's field goal put his team up 52-50 with 3:43 left in the second overtime.The Lions (15-7) answered with a two-pointer from junior center Colby Way, who added another two points on a rebound and putback that gave State College a 54-52 edge with just 56 seconds left.Brown tied the game with two free throws with 32.2 seconds on the clock before Brian Scholly went one-of-two from the charity stripe to put State College up by one at 55-54 with 16.9 ticks left."We made just enough plays to win today," said Lions' coach Drew Frank.In the first half, it was Frank's squad which had the upper hand, enjoying leads of 7-0, 18-8, 22-13, 30-20 and by halftime, 32-22.State College had taken control of the game with a physical style of play, outrebounding the Raiders by a margin of 23-10 in the first two quarters."You can see a team on tape, but until you step on that floor, you never know exactly what it's going to be like," said Giannotta. "State College is a physical team. Boy, were they big and physical. It took us a while to get adjusted."But in the second half, the Raiders matched and, at certain points, surpassed the Lions' physical ways.SV outscored State College 26-16 in the third and fourth quarters and had a 21-20 advantage on the boards in the second half."The thing that Seneca Valley did well was they took us out of our offensive gameplan in the second half," said Frank.Brown led all scorers with 19 points while Matt Vogt (12) and Nate Herrmann (10) also reached double figures for SV (17-9).Way paced the Lions with 11 points and both Jamar and Bernard Smack scored 10.<B>SENECA VALLEY 54</B>Evan Mitro 2 0-0 5, Christian Durbin 1 6-7 8, Nate Herrmann 3 2-4 10, Matt Vogt 5 2-2 12, C.J. Brown 7 5-6 19, Dustin Anewalt 0 0-2 0, Joe Belechak 0 0-0 0, Dan Rohm 0 0-0 0. <B> Totals: 18 15-21 54.STATE COLLEGE 56</B>Ashton Baker 3 0-0 7, Jamar Smack 3 4-8 10, Bernard Smack 5 0-1 10, Brian Scholly 3 1-3 8, Colby Way 4 3-4 11, Jay Franklin 1 1-2 4, Trevor Stark 2 0-2 4, Dom Mills 1 0-1 2.<B> Totals: 22 9-21 56</B>.<B>Seneca Valley 11 11 14 12 2 4—54State College 18 14 11 5 2 6—563-point goals:</B> Seneca Valley 3 (Herrmann 2, Mitro); State College 3 (Baker, Scholly, Franklin).
