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Slippery Rock's Mike McCaffrey, left, and Lee Jeska of General McLane struggle for the ball Tuesday in the Rockets' 62-35 loss in the District 10 playoffs.

SHARON - There was no comeback this time.

After trailing by double-digit deficits in the second half twice in the last two weeks only to launch furious rallies to win, the Slippery Rock High School boys basketball team found itself in a similar situation against General McLane Tuesday.

But the Lancers were ready, thwarting the Rockets at every turn on the way to a 62-35 win at Sharon High School in the semifinal round of the District 10 Class AAA playoffs.

"They got up by 16 points and they turned it up instead of sagging off," said Slippery Rock coach Chris Burtch. "They did exactly the opposite of what Franklin did."

The secret is out. Don't let the Rockets breathe.

Franklin learned that the hard way last Thursday when it went into a conservative mode against Slippery Rock. The Rockets rallied from the 16-point deficit and won a stunning game.

There was nothing conservative about General McLane.

After a sluggish first half, the Lancers came out in the third quarter with a heightened level of intensity and ran the floor with abandon.

"The game kind of got helter-skelter," Burtch said. "And General McLane is the best in the state at playing helter-skelter. That's what they do best."

The Lancers (22-4) scored just 25 points in the first half, but scored 24 in the third quarter to put the game out of reach.

Burtch had hoped to keep General McLane from running and was pleased with the low halftime score.

"We were down 25-14 at the half," Burtch said. "Obviously, we weren't happy about our number, but I felt their 25 was the right number."

Brian Schulz hit three 3-pointers in the third quarter for General McLane and scored 15 of his 17 points in the frame.

Freshman point guard Bob Stauffer also shined in the second half, penetrating at will against the shell-shocked Slippery Rock defense.

"They got to the rim and exposed some of the things we don't do well," Burtch said.

General McLane also smothered Slippery Rock's top two scorers this season.

Rich Lee was held to just nine points and Mike McCaffrey had only six points as the Rockets had no player crack double digits.

"We didn't want the ball in Lee's hands," said General McLane coach Andy Schulz. "We didn't want to give him a chance to shoot and I thought we tagged him pretty good."

Slippery Rock (12-12) trailed by 21 points at the end of the third quarter and the mercy rule kicked in with a little more than four minutes remaining in the fourth quarter when the Lancers took a 60-30 advantage.

Slippery Rock will play Erie Strong Vincent Friday at a site and time to be determined to decide the third seed out of District 10 for the state playoffs.