JACKSON TWP — There was a lot Victor Giannotta liked about the Seneca Valley boys basketball team's effort Tuesday night against Pine-Richland.

He was pleased with his team's positive response to a 13-point deficit in the second quarter. There was the Raiders' 21-of-30 (70 percent) showing from the field following the first period and the fact that they committed just three turnovers combined in the third and fourth quarters.

Then came the final two minutes of overtime.

Seneca was leading the Rams 65-61 in the extra period, but the Raiders turned the ball over on two straight possessions and Pine-Richland managed a 9-0 run to claim a 70-68 decision at SV's William Paul Gymnasium.

It was the first Section 3-AAAA loss of the season for the Raiders (10-2, 3-1).

P-R's Andrew Petcash laid in two points to cut the Raider lead to 65-63. Seneca then took more than a minute off the clock before Chad Izenas drove to the basket and was stripped of the ball, leading to Petcash's 3-pointer at the other end and a one-point lead for the Rams (9-3, 3-1) with 34 seconds remaining.

“We should not have been driving the lane there,” Giannotta said of Izenas' attempt to score. “We were up by two late and had the ball. We made some bad decisions, but they (Rams) made shots.”

The Rams' Phil Jurkovec added another basket after a Raider turnover and hit two free throws before Izenas drained a 3-pointer as time expired.

Petcash's 3-pointer gave him a team-high 19 points in the game.

“The bottom line is the kid made a shot,” Giannotta said.

“He's only a sophomore,” said first-year Rams' coach Jeff Ackermann of Petcash. “We don't start any seniors, but we have guys who aren't afraid to take big shots. We have four or five guys who score in double figures pretty much every game. We're a hard team to guard.”

Before Petcash got his chance to drain a clutch 3-pointer, junior Alex Goitz did so late in regulation.

SV's Dakota Topf had just given the Raiders a 61-58 edge with two free throws with 15.2 seconds on the clock, but Goitz's shot from the left corner seconds later tied the game.

The Raiders had one final chance to avoid overtime, but Izenas' 3-pointer was just off the mark.

After a slow start to the game, the Raider offense caught fire, with Jack Cook (2), Izenas and Topf all hitting shots from beyond the arc in the third period.

“We figured out their saggy man-to-man defense,” said Giannotta. “We started working inside-out instead of outside-in.”

Izenas' basket with 4:16 left in the fourth period gave the Raiders their first lead of the game at 51-50.

“One of the things that does come with having a young team, I think we thought the first half mattered more than it did,” said Ackermann. “I knew a 10-point (36-26) lead at halftime is nothing in this building.”

The Raiders had four players reach double figures in points, led by Izenas' 19. Zach Snyder added 18, Topf 15 and Cook 10.

PINE-RICHLAND 70

Adam Alexander 4 4-5 14, Ben DiNucci 2 0-0 6, Andrew Petcash 8 1-2 19, Alex Goitz 4 0-1 11, Phil Jurkovec 7 2-2 16, Charles Tortirice 2 0-0 4, Paul Nussbaum 0 0-0 0. Totals: 27 7-10 70.

SENECA VALLEY 68

Zach Snyder 8 2-4 18, Jack Cook 4 0-1 10, T.J. Holl 2 1-2 6, Chad Izenas 5 7-11 19, Dakota Topf 6 2-2 15, Matt Drambel 0 0-0 0, Chris Hart 0 0-0 0. Totals: 25 12-20 68.

Pine-Richland 18 18 10 15 9 — 70

Seneca Valley8 18 18 17 7 — 68

3-point goals: Pine-Richland 9 (Goitz 3, Alexander 2, DiNucci 2, Petcash 2); Seneca Valley 6 (Cook 2, Izenas 2, Holl, Topf).

Friday: Seneca Valley at North Allegheny