Gateway grabbed control in the first quarter and held off New Castle in a nonsection matchup.

The Gators (6-0), ranked No. 3 in the WPIAL in Class AAAA by the Post-Gazette, led 21-11 after the first quarter. The visitors built a 53-32 advantage through three quarters before the Red Hurricane made the final tally respectable.

“I thought we played hard; we didn’t play a bad game,” New Castle coach Mark Stanley said. “They’re everything their ranking says they are.”

Corey Eggleston paced the ’Canes (1-8) with 16 points and Marquale May chipped in with 12. Jajuan Jay contributed 11.

New Castle has lost seven games in a row.

However, the ’Canes’ opponents have a combined record of 45-22.

“It’s nice to see us play this hard as section play resumes (tomorrow at Beaver),” Stanley said. “If we continue to play hard like we did against Gateway we’ll be fine.”

Tyler Scott tossed in 15 points to lead the Gators.