CLARION — Fans of the Brookville boys basketball team, decked out in school colors, moved cardboard cutouts of a saw back and forth.

“Buzz saw! Buzz saw!” they chanted

That's what hit Moniteau Friday night: a buzz saw dressed in blue and white.

The Warriors never really were in the District 9 Class AA championship game against the Blue Raiders at Clarion University. They trailed by 11 points less than a minute into the second quarter and never got closer until the waning seconds in a 58-49 loss.

“The kids played hard,” said Moniteau coach Randy Armagost. “But (Brookville is) just a really good team.”

The Raiders jumped out to a 7-0 lead less than two minutes into the game. They led by 15 points at the half and pushed that advantage to 19 three minutes into the third quarter before Moniteau launched its only meaningful rally.

The Warriors (15-9) got as close as 11 points with three minutes left in the third quarter on the strength of a 10-2 run, but it was far too little.

Brookville (22-2) regrouped and spent the rest of the game keeping Moniteau at arm's length.

“I never really felt comfortable with the lead until maybe a minute left,” said Brookville coach Bud Baughman.

The Raiders built their lead with their big men inside.

Zane Hackett, a 6-foot-6 junior, and Jared Heschke, a 6-5 senior, dominated the paint for Brookville.

Hackett had several blocked shots and 20 points on 9-of-12 shooting, and Heschke had nine points and double-digit rebounds.

“Height killed us,” Armagost said. “They neutralized everybody.”

The twin towers frustrated Zach Sloan inside, holding the Moniteau forward to 10 points. He came in averaging better than 16 points per game.

The big men also clogged up the lane and altered the shot of Kyle Armagost, who needed two long, off-balance 3-pointers in the final two minutes to crack 20 points. He finished with 22.

The Warriors' reliance on two scorers was exposed by Brookville.

“That's pretty much what we worked on the majority of the week: shutting down those two players,” Baughman said.

Randy Armagost lamented the lack of scoring punch from the rest of his roster.

“We've been a 1-2 pony show all year,” the coach said.

But that show was good enough to get Moniteau to the district title game and to earn a spot in the PIAA playoffs March 12 against either Sto-Rox or Wilkinsburg.

MONITEAU 49Kyle Armagost 9-26 1-3 22, Zach Sloan 3-9 4-5 10, Andrew Armagost 2-8 0-0 6, Heath Lominski 1-3 0-0 2, Ethan Pry 0-2 0-0 0, Dalton Shuler 0-0 0-0 0, Jonathan Loos 0-1 0-0 0, Mitch Hunter 1-1 1-2 4, Jordan Smith 2-2 1-2 4.

Totals: 18-52 7-12 49.

BROOKVILLE 58Dan Ion 4-9 2-2 11, Tashan Mark 1-2 1-4 3, Seth Connor 0-0 0-0 0, Tighe Truman 0-0 0-0 0, Ryan Zimmerman 2-4 1-2 6, Kyle Baughman 3-4 2-3 9, Zane Hackett 9-12 2-3 20, Jared Heschke 3-6 3-6 9, Adam Dennison 0-0 0-0 0.

Totals: 22-37 11-20 58.

Moniteau 10 10 15 14—49Brookville 18 17 12 11—583-point goals: Moniteau 6 (K. Armagost 3, A. Armagost 2, Hunter); Brookville 3 (Ion, Zimmerman, Baughman).