ROSS TWP — Though its overall play proved to be erratic throughout the night, one aspect remained a constant for the Seneca Valley boys basketball team — forcing turnovers.

The Raiders forced 21 of them, including five in the decisive fourth quarter of a 51-44 victory at North Hills Tuesday night. The win seals for the Raiders a WPIAL Quad A playoff berth.

“We were fortunate to come in here and win tonight,” said SV coach Victor Giannotta. “North Hills was fighting for their season and they played harder than we did.”

The Raiders (13-3, 7-2) held a modest 36-35 lead entering the fourth quarter, but opened the period on a 7-0 run. The spurt was aided by Indian miscues, but North Hills managed to cut SV’s edge to 45-41 after Dylan Mitchell’s 2-point field goal with 1:27 left.

Easton Bazzoli answered for the Raiders with a bucket of his own and North Hills promptly turned the ball over again, which led to T.J. Holl’s field goal to push SV’s lead to 49-41 with 57 seconds remaining.

“Turnovers are what won us the game tonight,” said Giannotta.

“They’ve been a problem for us at times this year,” said North Hills coach Buzz Gabos of the miscues. “It’s happened more than I would like, especially in the half court. A lot of them are due to bad passes, some bad habits that the kids have.”

Gabos’ squad had to endure a miserable start to the contest.

In the first four minutes and 20 seconds, North Hills missed all five of its field-goal attempts and turned the ball over five times as the Raiders built a 13-0 lead.

“If that run happens in the second half, it probably does us in,” Gabos said. “But, being so early in the game, our kids just continued to play and we chipped away.”

Thanks in part to two 3-pointers from Danny White and another from Shawndale Jones, the Indians cut Seneca’s lead to eight points by the end of the first period and were down just 24-23 at halftime after SV managed a paltry four points in the second quarter.

“I think the start to the game actually hurt us,” said Giannotta. “We couldn’t have played any better in the first few minutes, but I think the kids took their foot off the gas after that.”

Senior forward R.J. McCauley was a big factor in SV’s fast start and its ability to hold off the Indians (6-10, 2-7). He scored nine points in the first quarter alone and ended the night with a game-high of 21.

“Everybody concentrates so much on stopping Bazzoli and (Alex) Snyder,” said Giannotta, “but there’s not a team in this section that wouldn’t want R.J.”

“I think he’s the key for them,” Gabos said of McCauley. “He’s got a great first step and is a tough matchup. He hurt us in both games this year.”

Joel Pepmeyer and Mark McIntyre both scored 10 points for the Indians.

SENECA VALLEY 51

Matt Darby 1 1-3 3, Easton Bazzoli 3 2-2 8, Mike Smith 0 1-2 1, T.J. Holl 4 0-0 8, Eric Woods 0 2-2 2, R.J. McCauley 8 4-5 21, Alex Snyder 3 2-3 8, Taylor Mantick 0 0-0 0. Totals: 19 12-17 51.

NORTH HILLS 44

Cory O’Malley 1 0-0 3, Joel Pepmeyer 4 2-3 10, Mark McIntyre 5 0-0 10, Danny White 3 0-0 9, Dylan Mitchell 3 1-2 7, Shawndale Jones 1 2-2 5, Tanner Bergman 0 0-0 0. Totals: 17 5-7 44.

Seneca Valley 20 4 12 15—51

North Hills12 11 12 9—44

3-point goals: Seneca Valley 1 (McCauley); North Hills 5 (White 3, O’Malley, Jones)

JV: Seneca Valley 49-46

Friday: North Allegheny at Seneca Valley