WEXFORD — The shots that had fallen during the regular season didn’t fall.

The defense that had been staunch gave up an uncomfortable amount of points.

The Knoch boys basketball team picked a bad day to not be itself.

Blackhawk had a lot to do with the Knights’ identity crisis as Knoch fell behind the speedy and agile Cougars by eight in the second quarter and spent the rest of the game trying, in vain, to catch up in a 49-42 loss in the first round of the WPIAL Class AAA playoffs at North Allegheny High School Tuesday night.

“Typically, we make those shots,” said Knoch coach Ron McNabb of some of the missed 3-pointers and layups. “But that’s basketball. We just didn’t knock down those shots that we usually knock down.

“Some of our bigs had to guard in space tonight,” McNabb added about the defense. “We worked on it, but it’s hard to simulate (Blackhawk’s) athleticism in practice.”

Blackhawk, too, came into the game with a false face. The Cougars were 11-11 during the regular season, but had losses on their record against North Allegheny, New Castle, Pine-Richland and Gateway — all quad-A schools.

“The first thing I told (my team) is to make sure they walk out of (the locker room) with their heads high,” McNabb said. “That’s a really good team. I watched some film and that’s not an 11-seed. With the non-section games they played ... that record is very deceiving. That’s not a bunch of rum-dums down there.”

After the two teams played even in the first quarter, Blackhawk (12-11) went on a 10-2 run to take a 22-14 lead midway through the second quarter.

Knoch (16-5) cut that lead to four by the half, but fell behind again by eight midway through the third quarter.

That put the Knights in a situation they hadn’t been in a whole lot this season: playing from behind.

“They seem like a team that if they have the lead, they are very tough to come back on,” said Blackhawk coach Andy Hedrick. “They only give up 40 points a game, so if you’re down by eight, you’re talking making up one-fifth of their scoring. It was important to play with a lead.”

And Blackhawk played with the lead well.

The Cougars committed just five turnovers in the game. Two of those came on offensive fouls.

Guards Tyler Engle, Chase Migliore, Tyler Nocholson and Dave Hornfeck proved to be difficult for Knoch to guard.

“We couldn’t keep Nicholson in front of us,” McNabb said.

Nicholson scored 13 points, but did most of his damage from the line when he drew fouls while slashing to the hoop. Nicholson was 9-of-17 from the free throw stripe.

The real dagger wielded by Blackhawk was Engle, who hit four 3-pointers — all with hands in his face — and scored a game-high 20 points.

He was also adept at dribbling out of pressure.

The athletic Blackhawk guards neutralized Knoch’s big height advantage. The Cougars have just one play who stands taller than 6-foot.

“They did such a good job pressuring our guards, it was hard for us to get the ball inside,” McNabb said. “They play physical, and I don’t mean that in a negative way. They bumped us. They displaced us.”

Matt Zanella led Knoch with 15 points, but was in constant foul trouble. Austin Miller, who didn’t start the game because of a deep thigh contusion, gutted it out and added 14 points off the bench.

For Knoch, the loss is hard to swallow.

McNabb, though, chose to focus on the good things the Knights did this season.

“We accomplished things this year at Knoch that we haven’t accomplished in 10 years,” McNabb said. “They have nothing to be ashamed of.”

BLACKHAWK 49

Chase Migliore 1-3 2-2 4, Save Hornfeck 0-0 0-0 0, Zack Duffy 0-0 0-0 0, Tyler Engle 6-11 4-8 20, Chris Cassidy 1-7 0-0 3, Ben Rhinehart 4-6 1-2 9, Tyler Nicholson 2-6 9-17 13, Tyler Shroads 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 14-33 16-29 49.

KNOCH 42

Austin Miller 4-13 4-5 14, David Gallagher 2-8 1-1 6, Stephen Oblich 1-3 0-0 2, Matt Zanella 6-10 3-5 15, Chris Kier 1-4 0-0 2, Troy Hixson 0-0 0-0 0, Aiden Albert 0-0 0-0 0, Jim Larrimer 1-4 1-2 3. Totals: 15-42 9-13 42.

Blackhawk 12 10 17 10 — 49

Knoch12 6 11 13 — 42

3-point goals: Blackhawk 5 (Engle 4, Cassidy); Knoch 3 (Miller 2, Gallagher)