CLARION — With their defense sparking a 12-0 run in the third quarter, the Brookville Raiders pulled away from Kane for a 59-52 win in Tuesday night’s District 9 Class AAA championship game at Clarion University’s Tippin Gymnasium.

For much of the night, it wasn’t easy against a Kane team that led by as many as six points in the first half and 34-30 on Chad Greville’s 3-pointer at the 5:13 mark of the third quarter.

But the Raiders answered Greville’s bomb with that 12-0 run for almost a four-minute span that gave them a 42-34 lead after Jace Miner’s 3-pointer at the 1:37 mark.

“We went into that press and it got us a lead with a couple of quick turnovers,” Raiders head coach Dalton Park said. “I didn’t want to stay in it too long for fear we would get tired, but it got us that just that little bit of a momentum where guys had confidence. And once they got the confidence going, it turned into defensive pressure, and it all gelled together. I think we held them to a lot worse shooting percentage the second half just by getting hands on their face.”

From there, it was working with the lead for the Raiders, who improved to 16-7. They led by as many as 11 points before settling for the seven-point win.

Their second title in a row in the current District 5/9 Sub-Regional format puts them in Saturday’s matchup with either Chestnut Ridge or Everett at Clearfield Area High School at 3 p.m. Those two square off tonight at Chestnut Ridge.

“It feels great, knowing that we’re going on to the next round, but we need to really do it now and maybe get to states, and I hope we do,” said senior Bryce Baughman, who hit a 3-pointer during the third-quarter run, then hit a layup after a steal early in the fourth quarter to increase the Raiders’ lead back to nine at 51-42 at the 4:18 mark.

Miner led the Raiders with 20 points. He agreed that the defense was what started the momentum in the third quarter.

“That’s been the main thing for us all year — our defense,” Miner said. “It’s always led to our offense and it’s been contagious. We came out in the second half, limited them to (poor 7-for-27) shooting and that only makes sense why we were able to do some things offensively.”

Robert Keth finished with 15 points while Aaron Park scored eight points and pulled down 13 rebounds.

“The press definitely helps kind of speed the game up and when the game speeds up, it kind of comes out in our favor,” Park said. “But in the first half, honestly, we hung in there. We didn’t play our best basketball, a lot of our shots were going in and out. And in that third quarter we started driving, we had some kicks, and started hitting a couple of threes. We just took that momentum and built off of it.”

The Raiders led 5-0 out of the gate before Kane went on an 11-1 run. The Raiders took a 13-11 lead into the second quarter, but Kane led 30-27 by halftime.

Kane’s inside-outside duo of 1,000-point guard Chad Greville and 6-foot-5 forward Zuke Smith did plenty of damage. Greville finished with 20 points, but he wound up going just 6-for-20 from the field and 4-for-10 from the 3-point line. Smith was a problem inside all night, going 8-for-13 from the field for 18 points to go along with 18 rebounds. But all of the Wolves struggled shooting as the 7-for-27 shooting after halftime doomed their chances.

The Raiders beat Moniteau for last year’s 3A title, then Everett at Pitt-Johnstown last year to get to states. This time around, it’ll be a shorter trip to play the D5 champs in Clearfield.

“I haven’t seen the other two teams yet,” said Coach Park. “I can’t imagine them being any better than Kane. I think we’re going to have to play as well. Kane came out and gave us a game. Credit to them. They played very well. They didn’t back down from us. They worked inside, shot outside and ran on us, everything we would expect a good team to do and everything we expect to see Saturday. So hopefully we can be a little better composed and play a little more together at the beginning of the game.”

AT CLARION

Kane (52)

Zuke Smith 8 2-4 18, Whiteman 1 1-2 4, Chad Greville 6 4-7 20, DeLuca 2 2-3 8, J. Greville 1 0-0 2. Totals: 18 9-16 52.

Brookville (59)

Jace Miner 7 5-10 20, Robert Keth 4 5-7 15, Park 2 4-7 8, Baughman 2 0-4 5, Byerly 1 3-4 5, Krug 3 0-4 6. Totals: 19 17-36 58.

Kane 11 30 38 52

Brookville 13 27 45 59

Three-point goals: Kane 7 (C. Greville 4, Whiteman, Deluca 2), Brookville 4 (Keth 2, Miner 1, Baughman 1)