COLLIER TWP — Defense, defense.

Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic held Clairton to a season-low 38 points in cruising to a 56-38 victory Friday night in a WPIAL Class A boys basketball quarterfinal at Chartiers Valley High School.

The Trojans (16-8) held their opponent to less than 50 points for the 11th time in the past 13 games. CWNC has won 14 of its past 15 games.

“Everything we do plays off our defense,” junior guard Kenny Fukon said. “We like to control the pace of the game and frustrate the other team.”

Friday’s win sends the Trojans into a semifinal match-up against top-seeded Monessen Tuesday night. The site and time has yet to be determined.

Clairton (16-4), averaging 63 points per game, managed only 10 points in the first half Friday. The Bears sank just five of 22 field goal attempts in the first two quarters.

The Trojans took a 27-10 lead into halftime.

“I don’t want to take anything away from North Catholic, but we were getting our looks. We just weren’t knocking them down,” Clairton coach Mark Geletko said.

“We missed a bunch of lay-ups ... I don’t think I’ve ever coached a team that scored only 10 points in the first half. We scored 16 in the first half of our playoff opener last year.

“I thought it couldn’t get any worse than that. I was wrong,” Geletko added.

Erick Taylor paced the Trojans with 12 points and eight rebounds. Tristan Newcamp had 10 points and four steals, Fukon nine points, eight assists and three steals.

“We like to get the ball in Kenny’s hands because he doesn’t turn it over and he gets it to the right person,” CWNC coach Dave Long said. “He’s a very steady player.”

Austin Sieminski had 11 rebounds to lead the team. The Trojans had a 29-27 rebounding edge against a physical Clairton team.

“You have to be able to get things done around the basket — rebound and play defense in there — against athletic teams or you’re going to be in trouble,” Long said.

Jyceel Hall came off the bench to lead Clairton in scoring with nine points.

The Bears trailed 15-10 with 3:56 left in the second quarter before CWNC finished the half with a 12-0 run. Clairton was able to get as close as 33-22 late in the third quarter.

Fukon found Zach Offi for a wide-open trey at the buzzer to extend the lead back to 14. A 10-2 run to begin the final period gave the Trojans their biggest lead of the night at 46-24.

“You don’t want to fall behind against that team because they can extend possessions, force you into mistakes and capitalize on them,” Geletko said. “That’s exactly what they did.”

While Clairton shot 30 percent for the night, the Trojans shot 60 percent, hitting 21 of 35 field goal attempts.

Again, defense setting up offense.

“That’s what it’s about for us. We take pride in our team defense,” Fukon said.

And Long won’t take any credit for it,.

“I have nothing to do with our defense,” he said. That is (assistant coach) Frank Hollaran’s baby. He drills the kids on it and then it’s just the effort of the boys from there.”

CLAIRTON 38

Aaron Mathews 1-4 0-0 2, Khori Fusco 3-7 0-0 7, Lamont Wade 1-5 2-2 4, Noah Hamlin 3-9 0-4 8, Jyleel Hall 3-10 2-3 9, Uri Meyers 1-4 0-0 2, Koran Boyd 0-3 0-0 0, Maurice Reeves 1-4 0-0 2, Anthony Pruitt 1-2 0-1 2. Totals: 15-49 4-9 38.

CW NORTH CATHOLIC 56

Zach Offi 3-5 0-0 8, Tristan Newcamp 4-7 2-4 10, Joe Meinert 0-0 0-0 0, Austin Sieminski 2-3 0-0 4, Dom Serventi 1-1 0-0 3, Isaiah Wilson 3-4 1-2 7, Kenny Fukon 4-8 0-2 9, Vince DiNicola 0-1 3-4 3, Erick Taylor 4-6 4-6 12, John Fukon 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 21-35 10-19 56.

Clairton 6 4 12 16 — 38

CW North Cath.12 15 9 20 — 56

3-point goals: Fusco, Hamlin 2, Hall; Offi 2, Serventi, K.Fukon

Tuesday: WPIAL Class A semifinal-CW North Catholic vs. Monessen