JACKSON TWP — The first and second quarter Saturday night showed Seneca Valley coach Vic Giannotta all he needed to know.

His Raiders ended the first quarter on a 14-0 run, then were outscored 15-2 in the second period on their way to a 54-50 boys basketball loss to Fox Chapel.

Seneca Valley (6-5, 1-4) fell behind by as many as 16 (39-23) in the third quarter before pulling within two (52-50) with 1:18 left in the game.

"We're not playing a full 32 minutes of basketball every night," Giannotta said. "We're good in spurts. We make some runs. That's not good enough."

Three of the Raiders' five losses this season are by five or fewer points. Saturday marked their first non-section loss of the season.

Fox Chapel (5-5) won its third in a row behind the strength of its 3-point shooting. The Foxes drained 11 treys Saturday and have connected for 26 3-pointers in their past two games.

Eleven of the Foxes' 15 field goals through the first three quarters were from beyond the arc. The visitors took a 10-point lead into the fourth quarter, but did not hit another trey as Seneca Valley got back in the game.

"That was my fault," Fox Chapel coach Zach Skrinjar said. "Because of the scoreboard, I changed our strategy and tried running clock and getting the ball inside more.

"I took us out of what was working for us. Our guys work hard on their shooting. I don't know how many 3's we have this year, but it's a lot."

The Foxes opened the contest by sinking their first six shots — three of them treys — for a 15-7 lead midway through the first quarter.

Pete Vicente and Evan Mitro sank two free throws each, Vicente stuck back an offensive rebound and Christian Durbin sank a jumper to tie the game. Seneca Valley completed its run with a Ryan Thomas baseline jumper, a Durbin layup in transition and a Nate Herrmann layup.

Then the 15-2 second quarter forced the Raiders to climb uphill the rest of the night. While Fox Chapel was sinking eight 3-pointers in the middle two quarters, Seneca Valley sank three of 21 shots from the floor.

"I can't explain that," Giannotta said. "I had no problem with our defense tonight. My magic number is 55. If we can hold a team to 55 points or fewer, I like our chances of winning.

"Defensively, we did our job."

Durbin paced the Raiders with 22 points and five steals. He fueled the fourth quarter comeback as well.

Durbin scored nine of Seneca Valley's 16 points in the final period. He sank all 10 of his free throws in the game and nailed a trey with 1:18 left to pull his team within 52-50.

Fox Chapel's Donnie Sipple missed a wide-open layup at the other end and the Raiders regained possession with a chance to tie or win. But Seneca Valley turned the ball over with 14 seconds left and Jake Wilfong sank two free throws with 12 ticks on the clock to clinch the Foxes' triumph.

"You need to make big plays down the stretch to beat a good team on the road and we did that," Skrinjar said. "We're building some momentum."

Wilfong paced Fox Chapel with 20 points, including six treys. Brett Goldstein added 17 points and six rebounds, Brendan Duquette 10 points and seven boards.

Both teams had 28 rebounds. Herrmann and Belechak had five each for Seneca Valley.

"We had some turnovers late in the game that hurt us, but games aren't just won or lost in the final few moments," Giannotta said. "We dug too big a hole for ourselves."

Saturday's non-section game fell on the heels of a two-point loss to section rival North Allegheny the night before and three days before undefeated Butler comes to town.

"I don't buy into that (trap game) theory," Giannotta said. "That's an excuse used way too often when teams don't play well. We didn't play well and there are no excuses.

"It's a privilege, not a right, to be a varsity basketball player. If you're not mentally focused and prepared to play when that opening tip goes in the air, section or non-section game, you shouldn't have a uniform on."

Seneca Valley won the JV game, 46-45, on a 3-pointer by Matt Smith with 25 seconds left.

FOX CHAPEL 54Brett Goldstein 6-14 2-2 17, Ben Mawhinney 1-4 0-0 2, Jake Wilfong 6-11 23-2 20, Donnie Sipple 1-4 3-4 5, Brendan Duquette 4-7 0-4 10, Randy Mallinger 0-0 0-0 0, J.T. Healy 0-0 0-0 0, J.J. Krysinsky 0-0 0-0 0.

Totals: 18-40 7-12 54.

SENECA VALLEY 50Pete Vicente 1-2 2-4 4, Marco Corona 0-1 0-0 0, Evan Mitro 0-5 2-2 2, Beau Barclay 0-1 0-0 0, Christian Durbin 5-12 10-10 22, Nate Herrmann 2-7 0-1 4, Joe Belechak 2-9 2-2 7, Ryan Thomas 1-2 0-0 2, Pat Kulp 0-0 0-0 0, Alex Maxfield 3-8 0-0 7, Alan Heery 1-1 0-0 2, Matt Smith 0-0 0-0 0.

Totals: 15-48 16-19 50.

Fox Chapel 15 15 14 10—54Seneca Valley 21 2 11 16—503-point goals: Fox Chapel 11 (Goldstein 3, Wilfong 6, Duquette 2), Seneca Valley 4 (Durbin 2, Belechak, Maxfield)

Junior varsity: Seneca Valley, 46-45 (SV: Alex Snyder 13, FC-Matt Roman 17)

Tuesday: Butler at Seneca Valley