CLARION — In a matter of one half Saturday evening at Clarion University’s Tippin Gymnasium, Union’s District 9 Class 1A title dreams went up in smoke.

The Knights needed only 16 more minutes of solid play to close out an unanticipated district playoff run that included upsets against No. 3 Clarion — which went undefeated in conference play in the regular season — and a No. 2 DuBois Central Catholic team they’d lost to earlier in the schedule.

That momentum shot Union into the first half of their championship contest, but a crucial lull caused a 50-35 loss against perennial power Elk County Catholic.

Payton Johnston and Zander Laughlin teamed up to score 17 of the Knights’ 18 first-quarter points, opening up a 12-point lead late in the first quarter. Union (14-12) shot better than 50% from the floor on 20 shots in the initial half, along with denying the Crusaders second-chance points on the other end.

“We really fragmented there out of a couple of those timeouts,” Crusaders coach Aaron Straub said. “They were a little rattled, let’s face it. A team comes out and makes a bunch of shots on you and you don’t necessarily respond as quickly as you would like, we weren’t where our feet were in that first 12 minutes.

“We got a little frustrated. We got a little out of sync ... I think we really corrected ourselves.”

To the tune of a a 26-2 run in the game’s last 8:14, more specifically, after Union’s Skyler Roxbury’s basket had stretched their advantage back out to a dozen points in the first two minutes of the second half. The Knights would only muster three points the rest of the way.

“It snowballed on us,” Knights coach Eric Mortimer said. “They (Elk County Catholic) played a good game. We go seven deep, they go eight or nine deep.”

The Crusaders (25-2) tallied the final 13 points of the third frame, going back up with 1:10 before the fourth and extending the advantage to four points a minute later.

The Knights powered through a stretch in January where they lost four in a row and seven of eight.

“A lot of teams would have folded and said, ‘Hey, let’s start thinking about spring sports or let’s start thinking about something else,’” Straub said. “Quite clearly, they did not do that ... Why wouldn’t they come out and play hard tonight?”

Johnston finished with a game-high 15 points and Laughlin 12.

“These kids have been fighting the whole season trying to get better and better,” Mortimer said. “We knew what we had and it eventually comes to the top. We’re going to keep moving on the way we are and play one more game at a time.”

Union will welcome in Turkeyfoot Valley, District 5’s third seed, to kick off the state playoffs.

UNION 35

Payton Johnston 6 2-2 15, Zander Laughlin 5 0-0 12, Skyler Roxbury 3 0-0 6, Dawson Camper 0 2-4 2. Totals: 14 4-6 35.

ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 50

Adam Straub 3 6-7 12, Wil Wortman 5 2-3 12, Michael Jacobs 4 0-0 8, Jordan Wasko 2 2-2 8, Colby Nussbaum 1 2-2 4, Lance O’Neill 1 2-2 4, David Anderson 0 2-2 2, Timmy Brannock 0 0-1 0. Totals: 16 16-19 50.

Union 18 10 5 2 — 35

Elk County Catholic 8 14 15 13 — 50

3-point goals: Union 3 (Laughlin 2, Johnston); Elk County Catholic 2 (Wasko 2)