He was the smallest player on the court, and among those farthest away from the basket, but Luke Hagy did what he does best -- he made a play at a time when it mattered the most.

Hagy, Mt. Lebanon's 6-foot sophomore point guard, came away with the ball off a rebound of his own missed free throw with 46 seconds left in overtime of the Blue Devils' 38-32 victory against Hampton in the showdown of teams ranked No. 1 in their respective WPIAL classifications by the Post-Gazette this past Saturday at Ambridge.

Keeping possession ultimately led to two more points for the Blue Devils and, more importantly, kept the ball away from Hampton, Class AAA's No. 1 team.

The youngest starter on the No. 1-ranked Class AAAA team, coming through when he is needed is nothing out of the ordinary for Hagy.

"He's a guy who just makes plays all the time," Mt. Lebanon coach Joey David said. "Little plays, little tips here and there with his hands, little deflections.

"He starts it from the top and the rest of the guys just feed off that."

Notice how David refers to Hagy as "the top" -- that likely was just a manner of speech, but it's still worth noting that on a veteran team with three senior starters and a junior, a sophomore has taken on a leadership role.

Other players look up to one of the shortest guys on the team.

"He's great on the defensive end, and he makes big plays when we really need them," said senior guard Evan Pierce, who will play at Division I Wagner College.

"On the offensive end, he controls our offense. In pressure situations, he comes up with those assists and makes the free throws at the end that we need."

Hagy is obviously quite the athlete. He led the Mt. Lebanon football team in rushing with 907 yards and scored 14 of the Blue Devils' 33 touchdowns.

Listed at 185 pounds, he has enough quickness to defend opponents' top guards and handle the ball through pressure, to say nothing of juking while carrying the football around defenders.

But for all his physical abilities, Hagy's biggest asset to the Blue Devils might just be mental.

"He's just a heady guy," David said. "He's a coach on the floor. Any coach in America would want a kid like that on the floor."

David said not only is Hagy a smart basketball player, he also has tackled another mental part of the game: David said Hagy has the intangibles to match his athleticism.

"If he makes a turnover, you can just see him looking to go get it back," David said. "He's one of those kids you don't have to say anything to. He just plays his heart out. He's a winner. A guy like [junior swingman Paul] Lang is the same way, and the other guys just fall in right behind that."

Mt. Lebanon is thinking big this season, having improved to 10-0 after a 56-31 victory against Baldwin Tuesday night in Section 4-AAAA. Hagy scored 15 points in the win.

After having advanced to the WPIAL championship game and PIAA semifinals last season, much was expected from the Blue Devils this season and they have yet to disappoint.

Included in the perfect start are several quality wins. Three were against teams from Florida at the Junior Orange Bowl tournament in Miami (one against nationally ranked Montverde Academy and another against defending state champion Coral Reef), and others came against Hampton, North Allegheny and Shady Side Academy in the WPIAL, three teams that have a combined one loss other than falling to Mt. Lebanon.

Mt. Lebanon is No. 6 in the state by the Middle Atlantic Sports News/LLhoops.com rankings.

"We're playing really well right now, playing as a team," Hagy said. "If it's not one person, it's another person who picks him up. Every player is committed to winning, and every win is a team win."

Mike White's "High School Sports Edition" videos are featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.