JACKSON TWP — This is a pretty good high school basketball line for a player: eight field goals, 15-of-30 from the line for 32 points.

It isn't so good for a team, though.

But that was the line for the Seneca Valley boys basketball team Tuesday night against North Allegheny in a 49-32 section loss.

"Our seventh-grade team would have played better," said Raiders coach Victor Giannotta.

It's hard to fathom a junior high squad missing as many shots in the paint.

The Raiders (4-3, 0-2) missed 16 of them, including several during a critical stretch in the first four minutes of the game when Seneca Valley couldn't take advantage of North Allegheny's shooting woes.

Instead, the teams combined to miss the first 14 shots of the game and the Raiders led 1-0 midway through the quarter.

"We should have had a 10-point lead in the first quarter," Giannotta said. "But we didn't, and it just got tighter and tighter and tighter, and they beat us."

The Tigers (4-3, 2-0) led 20-17 at the break, but after Seneca Valley scored the first points of the second half, NA went on the game's only run, outscoring the Raiders 13-2 to build a 12-point lead at the end of the third quarter.

With the way Seneca Valley was scoring, that lead may as well have been 100.

"You figure you're going to win the basketball game when you give up 49 points," Giannotta said.

It wasn't like NorthAllegheny was setting the net ablaze, either. But the Tigers got enough scoring from guard Ted Connolly and post player Phil Hoffman to make the difference.

Connolly was particularly lethal in the second half, scoring 12 of his game-high 18 points after the break.

Hoffman battled in the post with Seneca Valley's Shawn Eagle, but he managed to score 12 points.

"That was probably the most enjoyable part of the game from a spectator's standpoint — watching those two kids battle down there," Giannotta said. "The rest of it wasn't the most aesthetically pleasing game to watch."

North Allegheny did a good job holding KevinMayberry in check. The Tigers sent double teams at him and frustrated the senior.

Mayberry scored only three points and didn't hit a shot from the floor.

"It's nothing that we've done differently to anyone else," said NorthAllegheny coach Dave DeGregorio. "We did a nice job of weak-side help in the post. I thought we did a nice job on some of our switches. And we guarded the ball very well."

For Seneca Valley, it was yet another section loss. The Raiders have won just two section games in the last two-plus seasons, and none at home.

"We're not on track," Giannotta said. "We have two section wins in the last three years. We haven't won a section game at home. We're nobody. We gotta get better."

NORTH ALLEGHENY 49Jon Masuga 0-3 5-6 5, Ted Connolly 7-10 4-9 18, Ross Constantina 0-1 0-0 0, Dorian Founds 1-4 1-2 3, Steve Kirsh 1-1 4-7 6, Adam Neugebauer 0-2 0-0 0, Jeff Haus 0-0 0-0 0, Jeff Finkle 2-6 0-0 5, Dan Kusnyer 0-0 0-0 0, Phil Hoffman 5-11 2-5 12.

Totals: 16-38 16-27 49

SENECA VALLEY 32Gabe Grinder 1-3 1-2 3, Kevin Mayberry 0-5 3-5 3, Tony Tresser 0-1 0-0 0, Sean Gress 0-1 0-0 0, KevinRohm 0-5 2-2 2, Pat Heery 2-6 4-7 7, John Bryant 0-0 0-0 0, John Fitzpatrick 2-4 3-6 8, Shawn Eagle 1-2 0-4 2, Jarrett Shotts 1-5 1-2 3, C.J. Brown 1-7 2-3 3. Totals: 8-39 15-30 32

North Allegheny 6 14 13 16—49Seneca Valley 7 10 4 11—323-point goals: Finkle, Fitzpatrick

JV: North Allegheny 43-38

Friday: Seneca Valley at New Castle