It was not even Christmas and the Peters Township boys' basketball team had already matched its section win total (three) from the previous two seasons.

Solid guard play and the emergence of senior forward Steve Radke have helped the Indians to a 10-5 start, including a 3-3 mark in Section 4-AAAA.

After getting out of the gate quickly with eight consecutive wins, the Indians are fighting to get their groove back, going 2-5 in their past seven games.

The Indians went from 8-16 in the 2004-05 season to 7-17 two years ago and 6-18 last year. Despite only eight section wins combined in the past three seasons and not making the playoffs since they made the move to Class AAAA after the 2003-04 season, some of the players carried a winning attitude into the season.

"I am excited about how we are playing," Peters coach Gary Goga said. "My kids really work hard and they are always upbeat, which is great. Overall we are pleased with the record.

"We are taking it step by step and always trying to get better because [10-5] is nice, but it's not where you are after 15 games, it's where you are after 24 games."

Starting guards Nick Wilcox and Pat Russo, along with Wilcox's brother, Corey, who has been contributing off the bench, brought over a winning mentality from their success on the soccer field that resulted in a PIAA Class AAA championship.

"They are state champions in soccer and they carried that winning attitude over," Goga said. "Nick [Wilcox] has developed his game inside and now he can post up smaller guards. He has been our best player from a consistency standpoint and he has established himself as our go-to guy."

Nick Wilcox has been averaging more than 20 points per game. Russo is averaging 14 ppg. and shooting nearly 50 percent from 3-point range.

The Indians opened the season with eight consecutive wins before going through the current 2-5 stretch.

During the holidays, Peters Township split a pair of games at the Montour tournament. The Indians lost to Pine-Richland, 49-40, and then knocked off Woodland Hills, 58-41.

"We haven't been executing as well as we did early in the year," Goga said. "I think we are trying to look at our losses as a good thing so we can learn from them. We need to play better and be more consistent."

Peters Township is trying to survive a critical three-games stretch in section play, which began last Friday with a 51-31 loss against first-place Moon. The Indians lost to Canon-McMillan, 42-20, Tuesday and visits Mt. Lebanon tomorrow night.

In previous years, Peters Township would be at or near the bottom of the section standings by this point of the season. At the halfway point in the section schedule, the Indians are in fourth place, which would qualify them for the WPIAL playoffs if they can maintain that position.

"We have never been in this position before where section games matter," Goga said. "We have usually been behind the eight ball a lot at this point. We were trying to play spoiler rather than being in the thick of things."

Along with Nick Wilcox and Russo, sophomore Craig Wolcott rounds out the strong group of guards that has been doing the majority of the scoring. The big difference this year has been the ability to get production from a forward spot, where Radke has emerged.

"My guards have been playing pretty well but teams are starting to key on them," Goga said. "The one big thing over the last couple of games has been us getting scoring from Steve Radke. He has been stepping up and is really coming along."

Sophomore guard Jon Kovac comes off the bench to spell any one of the guards. He can play at the point or the shooting guard and Goga has been counting on him to come off the bench to make 3-point shots. Steven Paranteau, a 6-foot-3 senior center, is the fifth starter.

"He does a lot of our dirty work and he plays real good post defense and plays really hard," Goga said.

Peters Township's defense has been improved from last year. It has allowed 51.1 points per game, third best in Section 4-AAAA, a section known for its stingy defenses.

"Our defensive play has proven that we are getting better defensively, which is good," Goga said. "In our section, you have to defend. We are playing much better team defense."