Second Half Comeback Leads Mt. Lebanon To Third Straight Section Title

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The Mt. Lebanon boys basketball team captured its third straight Section 2-6A regular season title Friday night with a 69-65 win at Peters Township.

The Blue Devils have put themselves in position now to enter the Class 6A playoffs as the top seed for the second straight season.

The Indians had upset on their mind and everything was going their way in the first half, jumping out to a 39-31 lead at halftime.

As they have shown all season, Mt. Lebanon is too good to keep down. The Blue Devils stormed out of the second half, silencing the home crowd by taking a 55-51 lead. Both teams scored 14 points in the fourth quarter, allowing the Blue Devils to maintain the four point advantage for the win.

For Mt. Lebanon, senior Sean Loughran led the team with 22 points. Junior Blaine Gartley finished with 15 points and senior Mike Palmer and junior Jake Hoffman added 13 and 11 points, respectively.

Junior Colin Cote led Peters Township with 19 points. Senior Thomas Melonja finished with 15 points. Junior Sam Petrarca and senior Dax Ploskina chipped in with 14 and 11 points, respectively.

Mt. Lebanon improves to 17-2 overall and 9-0 in the section. The Blue Devils will seek their 11th straight win and perfect section record when they host Upper St. Clair in the section finale on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

Peters Township drops to 12-6 overall and 4-5 in the section. The Indians will travel to Canon-McMillan for the section final on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.