This one will send shock waves around the state. While at North Allegheny, it might go in the books as the biggest win in school history.

North Allegheny pulled off the upset Wednesday night, knocking off Mt. Lebanon, 52-48, in a PIAA Class AAAA second-round game at Baldwin.

North Allegheny scored the final eight points to defeat a team that won a WPIAL championship and was ranked No. 17 in the country by USA Today. Mt. Lebanon came in with a 26-1 record, but poor free-throw shooting (6 of 21) helped seal the Blue Devils' doom.

"This is great, fantastic," said North Allegheny senior guard Jack Counahan, who had four 3-pointers and a team-high 18 points. "Even in our school, I don't think anyone expected us to do this."

While no WPIAL team had defeated Mt. Lebanon this season, no North Allegheny team had made it to the PIAA quarterfinals. They play Gateway in the round of eight Saturday.

"I'm pretty sure this is the biggest win in our school history," Counahan said. "To beat the 17th-ranked team in the country? Plus, we were all JV kids last year. Pretty much none of us played varsity."

Although the low score of the game was not to North Allegheny's liking, the Tigers (22-5) shot the ball well enough from 3-point range and didn't allow much-larger Mt. Lebanon to dominate the boards. Mt. Lebanon out-rebounded North Allegheny, 41-36.

Mt. Lebanon junior forward Paul Lang, the team's second-leading scorer at 14.1 points a game, had one point and managed only two shots against North Allegheny's pressing and trapping defenses. When Mt. Lebanon beat North Allegheny in mid-December, Lang had 20 points and Deion Turman, 21. This time, Turman had seven.

"We really focused on Lang," said North Allegheny coach Dave DeGregorio, whose team led most of the game.

Senior guard Evan Pierce was the only Mt. Lebanon player in double figures with 19.

"This is hard because I love those kids in there," Mt. Lebanon coach Joe David said. "I think we did a pretty good job against them defensively, and, if we even go 14 of 21 from the line, we probably win by six or eight and everyone is talking about how great of a defensive team this is."

Sophomore forward Anthony Dallier added 14 points for North Allegheny, but it was Counahan who had the key plays. He made one 3-pointer from about 30 feet.

Pierce scored nine points in the fourth quarter, and his basket with 2:38 left gave the Blue Devils a 48-44 lead. But Mt. Lebanon did not score again.

Mt. Lebanon switched to a 1-3-1 zone, and Counahan got loose for a 3-pointer with two minutes left. On North Allegheny's next possession, Counahan drove and passed to Steve Ferringer for a layup that gave the Tigers the lead with 1:19 left.

North Allegheny missed a one-and-one with 26.9 seconds remaining. Pierce dribbled around, but couldn't get open. Luke Hagy missed a 3-pointer and Mike Martin missed another behind the arc before North Allegheny rebounded and Dallier made one free throw with 1.2 seconds left.

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