DANVILLE - There's a reason they say it's tough to beat a team for the third time in the same season.
Because it is.
Although Southern Columbia enjoyed regular-season success against Central Columbia, sweeping their Heartland Conference Division II meetings, there were no guarantees the trend would hold in the District 4 Class AA playoffs at Danville Wednesday.
Both teams played like they knew that, but Southern Columbia scraped out a 50-47 win to move on to play No. 4 seed East Juniata Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at Shamokin.
Central Columbia was within four to start the fourth quarter after swapping leads with the Tigers through the third, but two quick baskets by Southern's Austin Zelinski and Brad Fegley gave the Tigers some breathing room.
Casey Savitski and Mike Klebon each hit a foul shot in the final 30 seconds and the Blue
Jays missed a desperation 3 in an attempt to tie the game.
"Too close for comfort," Southern Columbia head coach Dave Yost said.
"I was proud of my kids. They fought, and fought, and fought and fought."
The first obstacle the Tigers had to fight through came when Savitski picked up two fouls in the first 52 seconds of the game. This sent the senior to the bench for the rest of the first quarter and brought on Klebon.
The Tigers watched as the Blue Jays built a 10-6 lead before Klebon was fouled on a 3-point shot in the corner.
The freshman sank all three free throws to spark the Tigers. He also hit a 3-pointer in a 10-2 run in the second quarter and another in the third quarter to give Southern a 36-34 lead.
Klebon finished with 12 points to lead the Tigers.
"He's a savvy kid and he doesn't play like a freshman," Yost said. "He's been around the game all his life and he's been progressing as the season went on. He helped us out big time at the end."
In between Klebon's big shots, the Tigers were kept afloat by Fegley's nine points, eight assists and eight rebounds, but any points in the paint didn't come cheap against Central, which seemed to learn its lesson after the Tigers' 66-37 loss just 11 days prior.
"It's a quality team and this league is very challenging," Yost said of the Blue Jays. "Central is a very tough opponent and they came out to play, and we knew that. It's not like we were taking them lightly in the least bit. They gave us an extremely well-fought game and we were lucky to come out on top in the end.
"They sagged in the paint and took away a lot of the penetration we got the last time."
Savitski, once he returned, was able to help stretch the defense by making two 3-pointers and finished with nine pointws as well. Keith Day scored eight points with five rebounds for Southern.
Dylan Hine paced the Blue Jays with 13 points.
Game Summary
CENTRAL COLUMBIA (47) - McDanel 2 0-0 5, Slyman 2 0-0 4, Hine 6 1-3 13, Duttry 4 0-0 8, Barratt 0 0-0 0, Aucker 5 0-0 11, Brandon 2 0-0 6. Totals 21 1-3 47.
SOUTHERN COLUMBIA (50) - K. Klebon 1 0-0 2, Day 4 0-0 8, Fegley 4 0-0 9, Savitski 3 1-3 9, Zelinski 3 0-0 6, M. Klebon 2 6-812, Parry 2 0-0 4, Pavlick 0 0-0 0, Klock 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 7-11 50.
Central 12 12 12 11 - 47
Southern 13 10 17 10 - 50
3-point FGs: Brandon 2, Fegley, Savitski 2, M. Klebon 2.