MOON TWP — Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic boys basketball coach Dave Long knew better than to ask for one thing Monday night.

When Long asked the Trojans for a strong start to the second half of their WPIAL Class 3A semifinal, CWNC struggled to meet the demand.

It ended up costing the Trojans the game in a 54-49 loss to Seton La Salle at Moon High School.

“We wanted a strong start in the third quarter,” Long said. “It's almost fate. You wish for certain things and that's the thing we didn't get tonight. Things didn't go well and (Matt) Banbury had a lot to do with that.”

It prevented CWNC (13-12) from making a surprise run to the finals as defending champs. The loss also marked the Trojans' third to Seton-La Salle (19-5) this season.

“We were able to take a big lead early and were able to make key fouls shots,” said Rebels' coach Mark Walsh. “They withstood a couple punches and kept coming back. North Catholic and Seton-La Salle is going to be a rivalry for a long time.”

The Trojans held a 22-21 lead at the break after Michael Drambel, who finished with 11 points, scored at the first-half buzzer.

All of that momentum was buried due to Seton-La Salle's effort on the offensive boards, beginning in the third quarter. After a missed free throw, Kaleb Krebs tracked down the ball and set up Banbury for a trey to put Seton-La Salle ahead 28-24.

It would be the first of four treys in the second half for Banbury. Jakob Richardson, who finished with a game-high 19 points, also tracked down seven rebounds for the Rebels.

“You can point out all these things, but as the fury of the game is going on, it's hard to remember all those things,” Long said. “That's been the tale of the tape for the most part, them being able to get more shots per possession than we do.”

The Rebels would stretch the lead out to as many as 10 points, 36-26, following two free throws from George Mike late in the third.

“We didn't come out good to start,” CWNC guard John Fukon said. “We knew they were going to come out fast because we knocked them off in the first half.”

The Trojans kept battling and had the lead down to as little as two, 51-49, when Ryan Feczko made a 3-pointer with 16.6 seconds remaining. CWNC couldn't force another turnover and Nick Deanes made three free throws to close out the win.

Even though the loss stung, Fukon felt their effort against a section rival was much better this time around.

The Trojans had three players — Fukon (13), Feczko (12) and Drambel (11) — score in double figures. That allowed them to score the most points in any of their three meetings against Seton-La Salle this season.

“We played with more energy,” Fukon said. “We shot better and didn't get scared by the big guys down low.”

C.W. NORTH CATHOLIC 49

Brian Davidson 4 0-0 8, Michael Drambel 5 1-2 11, John Fukon 4 3-3 13, Ryan Feczko 5 0-0 12, Zach Rocco 1 1-1 3, Jackson Paschall 1 0-0 2. Totals: 20 5-6 49.

SETON-LA SALLE 54

Matt Banbury 4 0-0 12, Nick Deans 1 5-6 8, George Mike IV 3 3-4 9, Jakob Richardson 7 2-3 19, Kaleb Krebs 1 2-2 4, Dylan Preston 1 0-0 2, Michael Bigley 1 0-0 2. Totals: 18 12-15 54.

CWNC 11 11 15 12 — 49

Seton-La Salle11 10 10 23 — 54

3-pointers: CWNC 4 (Fukon 2, Feczko 2). Seton-La Salle 5 (Banbury 4, Richardson).