WEXFORD — North Allegheny's boys basketball team is a legitimate contender for a WPIAL championship this season.

The Tigers sit alone atop Section 1-6A and they withstood Seneca Valley Friday with Raiders' guard Cole Brooks at his best.

These days, that's saying something.

The senior scored a career-high 38 points — sinking 10 treys in the process — but the Raiders left NA's gym with a painful 78-77 loss to the Tigers.

“It stinks,” Brooks said of his effort not coming in a win. “But at the end of the day, you look at the positives and negatives from a game and you get back to work on the negatives.”

Brooks' final 3-pointer of the night came just before the buzzer. It was SV's 15th trey of the game.

He scored 37 points in a game earlier this season.

“Cole has been tremendous for us. He's a great, great shooter,” said SV coach Kevin Trost. “He's not deterred by a bad stretch.”

NA (8-2, 6-0) seemed to have the game firmly in its grasp early on, leading 25-9 at one point and holding a 42-26 lead at halftime.

In the third quarter, the Tigers' shooting — 16 of 25 in the first half — cooled off considerably and they scored just 11 points in the period.

The Raiders, however, managed just 15 themselves and still trailed by double digits (53-41) with one quarter remaining.

Brooks drained 3-pointers with 5:13, 4:36 and 4:08 left, the last one cutting NA's lead to 63-56.

“We lost No. 3 (Brooks),” said NA coach Dan DeRose. “We were playing a zone so they couldn't screen us. I don't know how, but we lost him.”

Caiden Oros and Luke Lawson both hit late treys to aid SV's rally, but NA received 3-pointers from Jack Christy and Matt McDonough. The latter also hit two free throws with under 20 seconds left to give the Tigers just enough of a cushion.

The Raiders have given up no less than 75 points in six straight games.

“The first time we played NA this season, we pressed from the tip and gave up 91 points,” said Trost. “Tonight, we tried to play more half-court, and struggled on the glass.”

Connor Lyczek added 19 points for SV (4-6, 3-3) and Oros chipped in 12.

NA was without its top scorer, forward Greg Habib (23 ppg), who had a death in his family. Christy, a senior guard, stepped up with 22 points, including six treys.

“I'm so proud of Jack,” DeRose said. “He had been struggling and lost his confidence. He needed this.”

SENECA VALLEY 77

Connor Lyczek 9 1-3 19, Cole Brooks 14 0-1 38, Caiden Oros 4 1-1 12, Luke Lawson 2 0-0 6, Aiden Lyczek 1 0-0 2. Totals: 30 2-5 77.

NORTH ALLEGHENY 78

Jack Christy 7 2-2 22, Kyrell Hutcherson 4 1-3 9, Matt McDonough 6 3-4 17, Robby Jones 5 1-2 14, Khalil Dinkins 6 2-4 14, Ethan Lake 1 0-0 2. Totals: 29 9-15 78.

Seneca Valley 12 14 15 36 — 77

North Allegheny25 17 11 25 — 78

3-point goals: Seneca Valley 125 (Brooks 10, Oros 3, Lawson 2); North Allergheny 11 (Christy 6, Jones 3, McDonough 2)

Saturday: Hampton at Seneca Valley