John Heller, Post-Gazette Upper St. Clair's Cam Griffin maintains possession of the basketball against New Castle's Darece Henderson in the first half of last night's WPIAL Class AAAA playoff game at Ambridge High School. Click photo for larger image.

Upper St. Clair coach Danny Holzer doubts anyone on his team can dunk in a game. The Panthers also don't have a flashy ballhandler or a player who slashes through defenses with great agility.

But what Holzer has is a bunch of rug rats who play defense with intensity and desire. The Panthers have held 16 WPIAL opponents to 50 points or less, and they did it again last night in the WPIAL Class AAAA quarterfinals.

Upper St. Clair harassed New Castle all over the court with a man-to-man defense, holding the Red Hurricanes to 25 points in the first three quarters. Upper St. Clair then held on for a 57-49 victory at Ambridge.

The win put Upper St. Clair in the semifinals for the second time in the past three seasons. The Panthers (24-2) will play the winner of the game today between Shaler and North Hills.

"Bring on Shaler," Upper St. Clair's student section started to chant near the end of the game last night.

It was only the sixth time this season New Castle was held below 50 points.

"Defense has been our trademark all year long," Holzer said. "We understand that we're not big, so we have to put pressure on people on the perimeter.

"I think there's a misconception that Upper St. Clair kids are soft. But I'll tell you, we have some tough kids."

One of the toughest is Sean Lee, a 6-foot-3 bruiser who was one of the top football players in the WPIAL this past season. Lee will play defense at Penn State next season, and his football attitude apparently has rubbed off on his basketball teammates.

John Heller, Post-Gazette Upper St. Clair forward Sean Lee drives past New Castle's Anthony Harvey for a basket in last night's playoff game. Click photo for larger image.

"It all starts with Sean," Holzer said. "Our kids feed off his toughness."

New Castle (20-6), which had won seven games in a row, had 18 points at halftime. The Hurricanes shot 26 percent (9 for 35) in the first three quarters.

New Castle coach John Sarandrea acknowledged Upper St. Clair's defense was the key to the game. But he also believed the game officials contributed to the Panthers' defensive success.

"The officials allowed the game to be too physical from the start," Sarandrea said. "I don't blame Upper St. Clair for playing that way if the officials are going to allow it. That took us out of the game early."

But Sarandrea also had plenty of praise for Upper St. Clair's attitude.

"They just have an expectation to win, and you can see it," Sarandrea said. "Don't take this the wrong way, but they're not great basketball players. They're just tough and they just impose their will on you."

Holzer said: "We try to be a physical team. You should see our practices. Sometimes, they're wars. If we go full court in practice two days before a game, I get worried because our guys kill each other."

On offense against New Castle, Lee led Upper St. Clair with 16 points. Senior guard Eric Swenson added 14, senior forward Scott Dillie 10 and senior forward Brandon Del Re 10.

Senior forward Demetrius Searcy led New Castle with 16, and senior guard David Richards added 13. Richards had been scoring well the past few weeks for New Castle, but he was only 4 of 13 from the field and had only three points in the first half.

Upper St. Clair held a 27-18 halftime lead and took control of the game in the third quarter, going on a 13-2 run to grab a 40-20 advantage with 2:41 left in the quarter.

"The 3-pointers, and the timely 3-pointers, is what really hurt us," Sarandrea said. "But I'm glad we didn't quit after that third quarter."

New Castle made things interesting in the fourth quarter, going on a 17-4 run. Searcy scored off a rebound with 1:37 left to make it 48-44. But Lee made two free throws with 1:32 left and got a steal at the other end. Dillie made two free throws to make it 52-44, and the rest was history.

"If we didn't have such a bad third quarter, maybe we would've been ahead when we made that push," Sarandrea said. "But we were just too far down."