In the same 32-minute span, two entirely different consequences were realized last night.

For the Fox Chapel boys' basketball team, the game served as a successful end; for their counterparts from Plum it was an unsuccessful end.

Fox Chapel (13-8, 6-6) secured a 58-43 victory against Plum (9-12, 4-8) last night to claim the final postseason spot in WPIAL Class AAAA Section 2.

Fox Chapel senior guard Alex Vargo led his squad with 22 points, scoring 10 in a row in a key stretch through the third quarter. Plum was paced by senior swingman Andrew Cressler, who had 23 and was the only Mustang in double figures.

The Foxes effectively won the game, securing their spot in the WPIAL playoffs in the process, with a third-quarter run that spilled over into the early part of the fourth quarter. In that stretch, Fox Chapel constructed a 22-10 surge during which it grabbed the lead with 3:59 left in the third quarter and never trailed again.

"We knew that we needed to come out strong right there; those were the biggest minutes of this game, right out of halftime and in the third quarter," said Vargo, who sustained a devastating hand injury in a car accident last year and battled through surgery and rehabilitation to make it back for the season.

Fox Chapel coach Ben O'Connor understands the importance of Vargo, who time and again put a little space between himself and a defender, then pulled up from between 12 and 15 feet.

"When he plays under control, he is someone who is really capable of doing a lot of things for us," O'Connor said. "The shots he was making tonight, we actually call those shots 'Alex Vargos' in practice, because it is his shot, it is the shot he can knock down over and over again. ...

"Between the accident and everything, his heart cannot fit in his chest, that is how much you have to love that kid."

Cressler -- who came into the game as the area's fifth-leading scorer at 24 points per game -- exposed Fox Chapel early, coming tightly off screens over the first few minutes and knocking down jumper after jumper. He scored his team's first 9 points en route to 13 in the first half.

"Andrew is a special player," O'Connor said. "He is one of the top five players in the WPIAL.

"But we just figured that Andrew was going to get his, and, if we contained him from dropping 40, and didn't let the other guys hurt us, we'd have a good shot."

On the strength on Cressler's hot hand, Plum took a 27-24 halftime lead in a back-and-forth opening 16 minutes that didn't see either team stretch an advantage to more than five points.

"I think Andrew Cressler is the best player in the WPIAL," Vargo said. "But, saying that, he is just one player. I thought that while they had him, and he is so good, we just had too many weapons. We were kind of able to hurt them in a lot of ways."

And using all of them, the Foxes clinched a spot in the playoffs.