By DAN IRWIN
d_irwin@ncnewsonline.com

Judging by the sparse crowd at Neshannock High last night, Lancers’ fans haven’t been giving the postseason much thought.

Head coach Jim Smiley understands.

“If you’d have asked me a couple weeks ago, I’d have pulled a Jim Mora — ‘Playoffs? Don’t talk about playoffs,’ ” Smiley said. “We were simply talking about trying to take it over half court and get a good shot.”

However, after Neshannock’s 76-74 double overtime win over Rochester, the Lancers (4-6, 8-10) control their own destiny in WPIAL Section 2-AA. With Shenango’s loss to Mohawk last night, the Wildcats and Neshannock are tied for the section’s fourth and final playoff spot, and the two teams play each other Tuesday at Shenango.

“We really did not play well early (in the season),” Smiley said. “We had some injury problems, we had some chemistry problems.

“But we’ve tweaked our offense, we’ve changed some things defensively, we’ve changed our rotation a little bit, and you know what, I give all the credit in the world to the kids.”

Last night’s game went much the same way.

For three quarters, Neshannock suffered through a dismal shooting performance, hitting just 13 of 42 (31 percent) of its shots from the floor. The rest of the way, though, the Lancers were 13 of 24 (54 percent), including eight of 12 from three-point range.

“Their matchup zone gave us problems,” Smiley said. “Against a zone, you’ve got to make shots, and we were not. We were not even getting good shots. So we came in at halftime and we made a few adjustments, but we were still down seven going into the fourth quarter.

“That was when we decided to change our defense a little bit. We were pretty much a bit of a half court, and we extended it out to full court, and it got us moving, and it also generated some offense for us.”

Perhaps the game’s biggest turnaround belonged to senior Mike Conglose, who finished with 31 points — his second straight 30-plus game — after netting just five markers prior to intermission.

“I guess I just hit a spurt,” Conglose said. “My teammates, they started stepping up and hitting shots (like Bobby Nittinger, who had 11 of his 17 points after halftime), and they created shots for me, getting me open.”

Rochester (2-9, 5-13) led 49-39 with 5:33 to go in regulation, but Neshannock went on a 16-5 run to pull ahead, 55-54, with 1:55 left. The Lancers followed that, though, with a 1-of-4 stretch at the foul line, while Rochester’s Jason Adamson hit two free throws with 13.9 seconds left to send it to overtime.

Later, E.J. Blackwell, who led the Rams with 19 points, hit a 3-pointer with six seconds left in the first extra stanza to take the two teams into a second overtime tied at 63.

Neshannock carried a 76-73 lead into the final two seconds of that period, but Chad Pennington was fouled as he launched a trey with 1.8 on the clock, and was ushered to the line to shoot three free throws.

Pennington hit the first, but missed the final two, and Neshannock’s Joey Fontana controlled the final rebound to secure the win.

“It’s always good to get a win like that, especially when you have to win,” Conglose said. “Right now, we’re trying to make the playoffs.

That’s just a huge win to come out on top.

“It’s going to be a very big game Tuesday (at Shenango). It’s probably going to be packed. But that’s OK. We like that atmosphere.”