SHALER TWP — It didn't take long for Vic Giannotta's optimism to turn into mass frustration.

The Seneca Valley boys basketball coach watched his team play sloppily early in Tuesday's game, falling 15 points behind by the end of the first quarter at undefeated Shaler.

The Raiders never recovered, absorbing a 64-31 Section 3-AAAA defeat.

“I thought we had a good game plan,” said Giannotta. “We wanted to spread their defense out, but they forced us out of what we wanted to do and got some early buckets in transition.”

The Titans (18-0, 10-0) held a commanding 35-13 lead at halftime, shooting 14-of-25 (56 percent) from the field in the first two quarters.

But Titans coach Paul Holzshu was most impressed with his team's defense.

In Shaler's 59-52 win at Seneca Valley Jan. 7, the Raiders received 19 points from both Christian Durbin and Alex Maxfield.

On Tuesday, the duo combined for 15 points, with Durbin leading SV with 11, including a first-half bucket that put him over 1,000 career points.

“We had J.T. (Schwartz) on Durbin and Geno (Thorpe) guarded Maxfield tonight,” said Holzshu. “They both did a great job defensively.”

Shaler's Zach Taylor paced all scorers with 17 points and all 14 of Thorpe's points came in the first half.

The Titans' previous game was a 63-35 win over Upper St. Clair last Sunday.

Shaler is the only remaining undefeated team in WPIAL Quad A.

“We are playing our best basketball of the season right now,” said Holzshu. “But we can still get better.”

The Raiders (8-10, 3-6) still have a chance to grab the fourth and final playoff spot from the section, but the face a must-win home game against Pine-Richland Friday.

“We have to put tonight behind us and focus on Pine-Richland,” Giannotta said.

SENECA VALLEY 31Matt Smith 1 0-0 3, Easton Bazzoli 1 0-2 3, Christian Durbin 2 6-6 11, Chad Albert 1 0-0 2, Alex Maxfield 2 0-0 4, Jordan Brown 1 1-1 3, Austin Bream 2 1-2 5, Mike Miles 0 0-0 0, Zach Spangler 0 0-0 0, Beau Barclay 0 0-0 0, Ryan Conn 0 0-0 0, R.J. McCauley 0 0-0 0, Pat Kulp 0 0-0 0, Justin McCauley 0 0-0 0, Alex Snyder 0 0-0 0.

Totals: 10 8-11 31.

SHALER 64Zach Taylor 6 0-0 17, J.T. Schwartz 4 0-0 9, Jake Sieber 3 0-0 7, J.P. Holtz 2 0-2 4, Sean Gavin 1 0-0 2, Craig Feehan 1 0-0 2, Brian Bittner 2 0-0 4, Mike Titterington 0 1-2 1, Geno Thorpe 6 0-0 14, Ryan Mincher 1 0-0 2, Steve Strackhouse 1 0-0 2, Christian Johnston 0 0-0 0, Sean Bittner 0 0-0 0, Steve Kimpel 0 0-0 0.

Totals: 27 1-4 64.

Seneca Valley 7 6 8 10—31Shaler 22 13 13 16—643-point goals: Seneca Valley 3 (Smith, Bazzoli, Durbin); Shaler 9 (Taylor 5, Thorpe 2, Schwartz, Sieber).

Friday: Pine-Richland at Seneca Valley