Aliquippa used a 23-10 advantage in the fourth quarter to spoil the visiting Spartans’ bid for the Section 2-AA victory, 61-49, last night.

Laurel (0-1, 2-2) held a 41-40 lead early in the fourth quarter before letting Aliquippa (1-0, 1-1) go on a 21-8 run to end the game.

“They made a few more plays than we did and we let it get away from us in the fourth,” Laurel coach Ken Locke said. “They made a couple plays to get up and we had to extend our defense to go after them. They were able to pull away and make it look worse than what it was.

“We had them right where we wanted them. The guys played hard and did everything that we wanted them to do. We gave them a good shot. It’s hard to explain to the kids after the game how we ended up losing. We rebounded better and we played better defense. We took better shots than Tuesday. Aliquippa is just a difficult place to play.”

Aliquippa made just 18-of-44 field goal attempts, while Laurel connected on 19 of 42.

“We came out in a zone,” Locke said. “They hit a couple three’s early and we had to get out of the zone. We had to starting matching up with them. Our guys did a phenomenal job the rest of the way.”

Zachary Wilson led the Spartans with 14 points and five rebounds, while Jacob Wilson tacked on 13 markers, five steals, three rebounds and three assists.