SLIPPERY ROCK — Trailing 11-2 less than five minutes into the game, Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic coach Dave Long called a timeout.

“It was just a reminder to the kids not to panic, to stay the course,” Long said.

The Trojans stayed the course all night, never falling behind by double digits and tying the game three times.

But they eventually succumbed to District 10 champion and state power Kennedy Catholic, 58-53, in a PIAA Class A boys basketball quarterfinal Friday night at Slippery Rock University's Morrow Fieldhouse.

“I'm just glad we never fell behind. I didn't want to see that,” Kennedy Catholic coach Rick Mancino said. “Dave Long always has those North Catholic teams 100 percent prepared.

“They forced us to play at their tempo. We usually score in the upper 70s. We struggled all night ... We were very fortunate to win.”

The game was even at 40 late in the third quarter before the Golden Eagles (26-2) took the lead for good on a Channing Phillips trey with 1:06 left in the period.

But the Trojans (20-9) never went away.

Consecutive treys by Zach Offi — who scored 21 points and sank five 3-pointers on the night — pulled CW North Catholic within 50-48 with 2:24 remaining. Drew Magestro responded with a trey of his own seconds later to bump the Kennedy Catholic lead back to five.

Magestro scored 14 points and hit four treys in the contest.

“A big-time shot by a big-time player,” Long said of Magestro's final points of the night.

Golden Eagle freshman Maceo Austin helped close out the win by sinking three of four free throws in the final 51 seconds. Erick Taylor canned a trey with 9.3 seconds left to pull the Trojans within 56-53.

A long inbound pass caught Phillips streaking toward the bucket, however, and he laid the ball in to finally seal the win.

“This was a great high school basketball game,” Long said. “It's tough to get a bunch of 16 and 17-year-olds to listen to you sometimes, but our kids listened to everything we said and followed our plan to a tee all night.

“I'm very proud of all of them.”

The Trojans saw their eight-game winning streak snapped. CW North Catholic had won 18 of its last 19 entering the night.

Taylor had 14 points and three assists for the Trojans while Kenny Fukon had 11 points and nine assists. CW North Catholic turned the ball over only seven times against Kennedy's pressure defense.

“Those guys are long and athletic,” Fukon said. “We had to extend possessions. You never want to play defense for a minute at a time, but that's what we had to do.

“We win games by playing defense and protecting the ball.”

“Less than 10 turnovers ... I never would have predicted that,” Long said of his team. “We did a great job handling the ball.”

They didn't do a bad job handling 6-foot-8 senior center Sagaba Konate, either.

The West Virginia University recruit managed only four points in the first three quarters before striking for seven in the fourth. He had a dunk and stick back two offensive rebounds.

“He's a kid in a man's body,” Mancino said. “Sagaba missed a dunk early, was called for a charge ... He was getting frustrated.

“Still, when you have a size advantage like that inside, you have to use it. I was screaming all night to get the ball in to him. We finally did it.”

Konate had seven rebounds to go with his 11 points. Jason Austin had 10 points and six rebounds for the Golden Eagles.

KENNEDY CATHOLIC 58

Mohamed Konate 3-3 0-0 7, Jason Austin 4-11 1-2 10, Drew Magestro 5-7 0-0 14, Channing Phillips 3-4 0-0 7, Sagaba Konate 5-10 1-3 11, Maceo Austin 3-3 3-6 9, Carmen Schuville 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 23-38 5-12 58.

CW NORTH CATHOLIC 53

Zach Offi 8-12 0-0 21, Tristan Newcamp 2-5 0-0 5, Austin Sieminski 0-1 0-0 0, Isaiah Wilson 1-4 0-0 2, Kenny Fukon 3-9 5-6 11, Erick Taylor 5-8 1-2 14. Totals: 19-39 6-8 53.

Kennedy Cath. 13 15 15 15 — 58

CW North Cath.10 16 14 13 — 63

3-point goals: Konate, Austin, Magestro 4, Phillips; Offi 5, Newcamp, Taylor 3