What a comeback. What a fourth quarter. What a way for Beaver Falls to win a state championship.

The Tigers scored the first 13 points of the fourth quarter in a dominant, athletic effort and turned a close game into a 71-59 win over York Catholic in the PIAA Class AA title game Saturday.

Jack Anderson scored 23 points and Lance Jeter had 21 to help the Tigers (28-3) win their third state championship and first since 1994.

"We have the best defense in the state because we're the hardest-working team in the state," Anderson said. "We knew we could do it all along and we just came through in the fourth."

The Tigers trailed by as many as 11 in the third quarter when they started their rally.

When Anderson sank a 3 to pull Beaver Falls to 48-46 early in the fourth, the largest crowd of the two-day championships erupted. Then Jeter hit a little jumper on the baseline to tie the score and Anderson put them ahead 50-48 with a jumper in traffic.

York Catholic (25-9) didn't score in the fourth until Jacob Iati hit a 3-pointer with 3:27 left. That made it 54-51, but the game may as well have been over.

Anderson went to work on sealing the win from the line, hitting four free throws with 1:50 left - two on a foul and two more on a technical - to push the lead to 12. Beaver Falls stretched a 26-8 run over two quarters.

"We know that we're better conditioned than any other team out there so we try to wear teams down and get them in the fourth quarter like we have all through the playoffs," Anderson said.

Anderson went 12-for-14 from the free-throw line.

"He seemed to be much more focused in the second half and played the way that he's supposed to play," Beaver Falls coach Doug Biega said.

Sean Johnston led the Fighting Irish with 20 points and 12 rebounds, and Jon Showers had 13 points and 10 rebounds. Iati scored 16 points.

"We lost our composure in the fourth quarter," said York coach Jim Senft. "Our inexperience and youth showed up. Beaver Falls' speed took advantage at that point."

Beaver Falls reached the AA final by beating Beaver County rival Aliquippa for the third time in four meetings - all of them close games considered among the best-played in Pittsburgh-area high school history.

The Tigers needed to come back in those wins and the Fighting Irish made sure another rally was needed in this one. York led 28-24 at halftime and took a 43-32 lead early in the third on Iati's pull-up jumper.

Then it all fell apart.

The Tigers got a big boost at the end of the third when Jeter hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer. That shot - along with a tough, fullcourt press that rattled York - turned the game around.

Jeter sank shots at the buzzer before, but few as important as this one.

"As soon as he hit it, I grabbed him and said, 'Huge shot,'" Biega said.

Said Senft: "Jeter - who has NBA-type range - his shot at the end of the third quarter was huge and gave them the momentum."

Then the pressing defense did the rest in the fourth quarter. York missed 10 of 14 shots in the fourth.

"They had trouble throwing it over the top and we were quicker than them and bigger than them," Biega said.1/8

Beaver Falls also won a state championship in 1970.