UPPER ST. CLAIR — Connor Lyzcek made two hanging jumpers in the final minute that kept Seneca Valley boys basketball team's season alive for a few moments longer.

The Raiders trailed by double figures for most of the second half during a WPIAL Class 6A quarterfinal Friday night at Upper St. Clair. Thanks to a dogged defensive effort and Lyczek's clutch shot-making late, Seneca Valley had a chance to tie or even take the lead with 23.6 seconds remaining.

But the Raiders' final possession ended with a driving layup attempt by Caiden Oros skipping off the rim and into the hands of an Upper St. Clair defender as the top-seeded Panthers survived with a 72-70 win.

Lyczek, who scored 12 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter, didn't believe Seneca Valley would ever fold.

“Like our head coach (Kevin) Trost says, you have to keep swinging,” Lyzcek said. “No matter what happens, I just want to keep going for it and give everything. Playing as a team, you don't want to not play as a team because then bad things will happen.”

Seneca Valley was once again without coach Kevin Trost, who missed the game due to undisclosed reasons. Joe Frank, who guided the Raiders' to their first playoff win since 2013 Wednesday night against Mt. Lebanon, filled in against the Panthers (18-1).

On Seneca Valley's final possession, Frank said Upper St. Clair's defense forced them out of their planned attack.

“St. Clair does such a good job of getting up and pressuring,” Frank said. “It's hard to get a set in that situation. We had a set where we had a screen and roll with someone going to the hoop and we had someone coming off a flair. Their pressure took us out of it.”

Seneca Valley (11-11) led twice, taking its final lead, 7-6, when Lyczek made a jumper with 5:21 left in the first quarter. Luke Banbury, who scored a game-high 30, put the Panthers back ahead on the following possession.

“We built a lead early because we made shots early,” Upper St. Clair coach Dan Holzer said. “So we were able to stay ahead of them.”

The Panthers led by 10 at halftime and took a 60-48 lead into the fourth quarter.That's when Seneca Valley started to chip away, opening with a 7-1 run.

For the first 6 minutes, 12 seconds of the fourth quarter, the Raiders limited Upper St. Clair to three points, allowing them to cut the lead to five.

“Really, we had to stay in front of our man,” Lyzcek said. “In the first half, we got hit a lot on the backdoors and all that. Help defense was important, charges if someone got beat.”

Connor Oros, who finished with 12 points, and Cole Brooks, who had 17, also contributed key baskets in the fourth quarter for Seneca Valley.

Holzer was impressed with how many times Lyczek got to the rim.

“They had about 85 made layups,” Holzer said. “We watched it in film, practiced it and went over it. But you have to give him credit.”

Frank was disappointed with how the season ended, but proud of the fight the Raiders showed. In the regular season, the Raiders lost to Upper St. Clair 85-66 at home.

“We didn't think we particularly played our best game in the first half,” Frank said. “We thought Upper St. Clair gave us their best effort in the first half. … This is all the kids, they all came together and played as a team.”

SENECA VALLEY 70

Connor Lyczek 14 1-2 29, Cole Brooks 4 7-8 16, Luke Lawson 4 0-0 9, Andrew Roy 0 0-0 0, Connor Oros 5 1-3 12, Caiden Oros 2 0-0 4, Beaux Lizewski 0 0-0 0, Ben Hicks 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 29 9-13 70.

UPPER ST. CLAIR 72

Luke Banbury 11 6-8 30, David Pantelis 7 0-1 16, Luke Gensler 3 1-2 7, Ethan Dahlem 2 2-8 6, Aidan Besselman 2 1-1 6, John Sukernek 1 0-0 3, Michael Pellici 0 0-0 0. Totals: 30 10-2072.

Seneca Valley 18 14 16 22 — 70

Upper St. Clair23 19 18 10 — 72

3-point goals: Seneca Valley 4 (Brooks 2, Lawson, Connor Oros), Upper St. Clair 5 (Pantelis 2, Banbury 2, Sukernek)