CHERRY TWP — Moniteau coach Randy Armagost had a simple plan: play tough defense and the rest will take care of itself.

Holding a one-point lead with five minutes left in the second quarter, the Warriors' Zach McCormick scored the first nine points of a 21-4 surge the rest of the half to beat Brockway 76-35 in the first round of the District 9 Class AA boys basketball playoffs Tuesday.

Moniteau (11-11) advances to the semifinal round, where it will play Brookville Thursday at Clarion University at a time to be determined.

"We decided to come out and play hard-nosed defense and prove we belong here," Armagost said.

"We saw Brockway on film five times and they could have been 15-7. They were in the same boat as us. We lost eight games in the last couple of minutes," he added.

The Rovers (7-16) used a 3-pointer by Cody Anderson to cut their deficit to one with 5:05 before the break — less than one minute after the Warriors' Zach Sloan picked up his third personal foul and sat out the rest of the half.

"(Coach) always gets on us about defense and he called a timeout (just before the Rovers' three-point play)," McCormick said. "Then, we went on that run."

"When Sloan goes out It seems like we're really missing something. We held it together and pulled away," he added.

At that point, McCormick caught fire, registering a basket, two free throws, a 3-pointer and a jumper in a 1:10 span to open a 10-point lead.

"We told the kids if we go in there and look like we lacked confidence, (Moniteau) would come at us like sharks," said Brockway coach Kurt Becker.

"The game plan was to come in and play defense," said Sloan. "We wanted to get a hand in their face and we were able to hit our shots."

In the second half, Kyle Armagost, McCormick and Andrew Armagost each buried a 3-pointer in the first 2:13 to open a 25-point advantage and the Warriors cruised from there.

"Moniteau didn't look like a .500 team tonight," said Becker. "Their big three scorers came through and they had a big team effort. ... They were the better team."

McCormick led all scorers with 21 points, followed by Sloan with 16 and Kyle Armagost with 15. Nick Anderson led the Rovers with 12 points.

The Rovers, the defending District 9 champions, defeated the Warriors in last year's semifinals and knocked the football team out of the postseason last fall.

"They beat us in both, so this feels good to get some payback," said Sloan.

BROCKWAY 35Kyle Cappetta 2 1-2 5, Zach Freemer 2 0-0 4, Nick Anderson 5 2-5 12, Derek Buganza 0 0-0 0, Cody Anderson 2 2-2 7, Jake Rogos 0 0-0 0, Fabio Fortunato 0 0-0 0, Levi Miller 2 0-0 5, Kyle Braun 0 0-1 1, Bryan Ellenberger 1 0-0 2, Ray Serafini 0 0-0 0, Evan Hatfield 0 0-0 0.

Totals: 14 5-10 35.

MONITEAU 76James Shope 0 1-2 1, Kyle Armagost 6 2-3 15, Andrew Armagost 2 1-1 6, Zach McCormick 7 4-4 21, Zach Sloan 6 4-5 16, Heath Lominski 0 4-4 4, Mitch Hunter 1 0-0 3, Jereme Loos 1 0-0 2, Lewis Martino 0 0-0 0, Dalton Shuler 2 0-0 4, Jordan Smith 2 0-2 4, Ethan Pry 0 0-0 0, Mike George 0 0-0 0.

Totals: 27 16-21 76.

Brockway 10 9 7 9—35Moniteau 12 25 19 20—763-point goals: Brockway 2 (Miller, Anderson); Moniteau 6 (McCormick 3, Hunter, K. Armagost, A. Armagost).

Thursday: District 9 semifinals: Moniteau vs. Brookville at Clarion University, time TBA