MONROEVILLE — Summit Academy was standing tall with Greensburg Central Catholic — then the Centurions went long.

In Wednesday's PIAA Class AA second-round boys basketball playoff game, Greensburg Central Catholic held a 14-13 lead late in the first quarter before enjoying a 21-6 run — highlighted by four 3-pointers in a five-minute span — to post a 72-61 victory at Gateway High.

The Knights trailed by as many as 17 points only to trim the deficit to nine points two times, the latter at 59-50 with 2:51 to play, but Greensburg held off the Knights at the free-throw line.

“Our kids were pretty resilient all year,” said Knights coach Art McCray. “They've been resilient all their lives. They came out and competed.

“I told them at halftime I'm sure there are a lot of people out there who think you're done, but they showed they weren't going to quit,” he added.

The Knights (17-10) used a 7-0 spurt to take a 9-5 lead before GCC did the same for a 12-9 lead with 2:28 left in the first quarter.

The Centurions never trailed again.

GCC's Jesse Reed drained a 3-pointer to open the second quarter, then P.J. McLaughlin added a basket for a 21-13 lead.

Treys by Jake Swan, Ben Klimchock and Jake Swan helped boost the run and gave the Centurions (25-3) a 35-21 lead at halftime.

“P.J. McLaughlin (6-feet-7) has a big role to play,” said Centurions coach Greg Bisignani. “We tried to establish the inside game, but they collapsed on him in the first half. We started working it back outside.”

The Knights responded with a 12-3 run as Ronald Smith, who finished with a game-high 28 points, scored eight, including a 3-pointer, followed by a David Murray basket to make it 42-33 with 3:02 left in the third quarter.

Swan, however, nailed consecutive 3-pointers and Reed added another score in a 1:39 span to give GCC a 17-point lead.

“We knew how athletic (Summit Academy) was,” Bisignani said. “We knew we had to stop their penetration and then the offensive rebounds. That's what you have to do against good, athletic teams.”

The Knights made another feverish push to get back into the game, this time going to the 3-pointers themselves.

Trailing 54-37 with 6:31 to play, the Knights used 3s by Arley Townsend and Smith in a 13-5 spurt — capped by a three-point play by Townsend — for a 59-50 score.

After a McLaughlin basket 10 seconds later bumped the lead back to double digits, GCC connected on 11 of 12 free throws the rest of the way.

The Knights made five 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, but couldn't cut the deficit any lower than nine points.

Smith and Townsend scored 16 and 15 points, respectively, in the second half to lead the Knights. Townsend finished with 18 points.

Reed finished with 23 points for the Centurions, followed by McLaughlin (18) and Swan (17).

The loss brings a close to the Knights best season in program history, with a section title, two WPIAL playoff wins and one state playoff win, the first in school history.

SUMMIT ACADEMY 61Arley Townsend 7 2-3 18, Derek Banks 1 0-0 2, David Murray 2 0-4 4, Dale Johnson 2 2-2 6, Ronald Smith 10 3-6 28, Ja'Donte Richardson 0 0-1 0, Darien Blaney 1 0-0 3, Nathaniel Pembrook 0 0-0 0, Tevin Allison 0 0-0 0.

Totals: 23 7-16 61.

GREENSBURG C.C. 72Ben Klimchock 2 4-4 9, Dan Sinwell 1 0-0 3, Jake Swan 5 3-4 17, Jesse Reed 8 5-6 23, P.J. McLaughlin 6 6-9 18, Romulus Marino 0 0-0 0, David Nowicki 0 0-0 0, Tom Cochenour 0 2-2 2, Bernie Sarra 0 0-0 0, Tyler Swan 0 0-0 0, Zach Herman 0 0-0 0, Cooper Cullen 0 0-0 0, Ron Yunker 0 0-0 0.

Totals: 22 20-25 72.

Summit Academy 13 8 14 26—61Greensburg CC 16 19 15 22—723-point goals: Summit Academy 8 (Smith 5, Townsend 2, Blaney); Greensburg CC 8 (J. Swan 4, Reed 2, Klimchock, Sinwell)