By JO WANKEL

Era Sports Writer

ERIE — Otto-Eldred’s Landon Francis posted 21 points, while Manning Splain and Shene Thomas each added 19 to lead the Terrors to a 75-68 win over Aquinas Academy Friday. This victory sends the Terrors to the PIAA Semifinals on March 21, where they will face Neighborhood Academy.

O-E’s Davey Schenfield was also a key factor for the Terrors’ offense, posting 16 points.

Despite being outscored 30-20 in the fourth quarter, Otto-Eldred held on to earn the victory.

“We let them back in the game. They hit some 3’s at the end, they just chucked them up there,” Otto-Eldred Coach Derrick Francis said of the fourth quarter. “We knew they were going to chuck a lot of 3’s.”

Aquinas Academy’s David Zaharko hit a three six seconds into the fourth quarter to break things open. O-E’s response came on a basket from Shene Thomas, making the score 57-40 in Otto’s favor.

The Crusaders’ Zaharko battled his way to the basket for another two points with 7:11 left, cutting O-E’s lead to 15.

After three minutes of back and forth, Zaharko hit a three to reduce the Terrors’ lead to 10, 61-51 with 4:10 on the clock. Aquinas’ Jake Guillen add a three with 2:52 remaining to make the score O-E 62, Aquinas 54. Four successful free throws from O-E’s Francis pushed the lead back to 12 and made the score 66-54 in O-E’s favor.

The Crusaders’ Jonah Burchill sank a basket with 2:13 remaining, answered by Schenfield to re-establish the 12-point lead. Guillen hit another 3 with 1:41 remaining to cut the lead to nine, with O-E still ahead 68-59.

Schenfield was fouled with just over a minute left and drained two free throws to give O-E a 70-59 lead, but Burchill found an opening and sank a basket to cut the lead to eight.

A successful free throw from Splain later, the score was 71-62 as a foul was called that sent Guillen to the line for three shots. With all three free throws successful, Aquinas had cut the

had 19 points in the win, which sends O-E to the Final Four.

Era Photo lead to six, 71-65 with less than a minute remaining. Another foul, this one on O-E’s Thomas, saw a repeat of Guillen at the line shooting three, all of which he drained. O-E still held a 73-68 lead with 23.9 seconds on the clock.

Francis was fouled by Guillen, stepped to the line and drained both of his free throws to make the score 75-68 in O-E’s favor, which stood at the buzzer.

The first quarter saw five lead changes before O-E took a 10-8 lead and held it, with the Terrors defending a 23-17 advantage at the end of the first quarter.

In the second, defense was the name of the game, with Aquinas outscoring O-E 10-9. Highlights included a three from Splain with 2:19 left on the clock and a basket from Schenfield with 57 seconds left in the half.

“Their defense is very unique, very hard to simulate and emulate in practice,” Francis noted. “But we gutted out another one. I think we’re 15-20 points better than that team honestly.”

Aquinas saw a total of 26 points from Guillen and 18 from Zaharko while Duer posted 14, two of which were a milestone worth noting.

Duer scored his 1,000th career point toward the end of the third quarter, and his accomplishment was announced in the break before the start of the fourth. However, if the difference is made in balanced scoring, the truth is in the box score. O-E saw four double-digit scorers, compared to the three recorded for Aquinas.

“I told the kids all along, this whole journey, we have to have more than one, more than two,” Francis stated. “I think we put four of them in double- figures — high teens or whatever, and that’s what wins you games at states.”

Neighborhood Academy defeated LaAcademia Charter 64-44 Friday to advance to the Semifinals as well. NA’s Courtney Wallace scored 22 points in the victory, after celebrating the milestone of 2,000 career points during Neighborhood Academy’s 63-44 defeat of ECC Tuesday in Clarion.

AT HAGERTY FAMILY EVENT CENTER (ERIE) AQUINAS ACADEMY (68) Jacob Guillen 7-9-9-26, David Zaharko 4-33-18, Burchill 3-0-0-7, Sam Duer 3-7-10-14, Stanton 1-0-0-3. Totals 20-19-22-68. OTTO-ELDRED (75) Manning Splain 7-1-2-19, Davey Schenfield 5-3-4-16, Landon Francis 6-9-11-21, Shene Thomas 8-3-3-19. Totals 26-16-20-75.

Aquinas 17 10 11 30 Otto-Eldred 23 9 23 20 Three-Point Goals: Aquinas 9 (Guillen 3, Zaharko 3, Burchill 1, Duer 1, Stanton 1); Otto-Eldred 7 (Splain 4, Francis 3). Total Fouls: Aquinas 20, O-E 12.