EBENSBURG — Alex Wood drilled a go-ahead 3-pointer with 2:45 left in overtime and then made a pair of free throws with 4.4 seconds left to ice the game as Bishop Guilfoyle Catholic upset top-seeded Johnstown, 55-50, in the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference championship game Saturday at Central Cambria High School.

The LHAC championship was the third in four years for the Marauders.

“It means a great deal,” Bishop Guilfoyle coach Chris Drenning said. “Everything these kids have been through, having their season stopped in the state playoffs last year and then not having much of an offseason and normal routine with practices and games interrupted, to see them get down early and never quit was great. They kept hanging around and being tough. It’s great to see them rewarded. They certainly deserve it.”

The Marauders, who trailed 21-11 after one quarter, fought their way back into the game and briefly took the lead in the third quarter after a barrage of 3-pointers by Cameron Khoza, who finished with a team-high 14 points.

Johnstown regained the lead heading into the final quarter and held it until Michael Woolridge’s putback made it 41-40 BG with 2:44 to play.

Joziah Wyatt-Taylor, who finished with 28 points, answered with a traditional three-point play which also included his 1,000th career point.

With the Marauders down by four, Casey Smith made a 3-pointer with 44.8 seconds left to cut the deficit to one. Omarion Harris made one of two free throws for the Trojans with 34 seconds left to set up the final sequence of regulation.

Khoza drove the baseline with about 15 seconds to play but lost control of the ball. It landed in the hands of BG’s Andrew Yanoshak, who laid it in to tie the game with 10 seconds to play. Johnstown failed to get a quality look, and the game went into overtime.

“We did a good job of penetrating and making their defense rotate, and Andrew was right where he was supposed to be,” Drenning said. “He got the offensive rebound and made a clutch basket to get us to overtime.”

Following Wood’s 3-pointer, Smith put BG up by five with a layup before Wyatt-Taylor responded with a basket. Patrick Haigh missed the front end of a one-and-one opportunity from the foul line with 31.1 seconds left, but the Trojans missed a game-tying 3-point attempt.

Given a second chance, Haigh made two free throws to make it 53-48 with 25.6 seconds left. Drezre Toney’s layup with 5.3 seconds left once again made it a one-score game before Wood’s free throws iced the game and the title for BG, which lost to Johnstown in the final last year.

“I felt really good for Alex, because he was on the floor when (BG lost) last year,” Drenning said. “His 3 to open overtime and then two big foul shots later were huge.”

BISHOP GUILFOYLE (55): Haigh 4 2-3 13, Smith 3 0-0 8, Khoza 5 0-1 14, Wood 2 3-4 9, Mi. Woolridge 3 1-1 7, Yanoshak 1 0-0 2, Ko. Kiesewetter 1 0-0 2. Totals–19 6-9 55.

JOHNSTOWN (50): Harris 1 2-6 4, Toney 3 0-0 7, Holiday 3 0-0 8, Matula 1 1-3 3, Wyatt-Taylor 10 8-11 28, Updike 0 0-0 0, Knipple 0 0-0 0. Totals–18 11-20 50.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Bishop Guilfoyle 11 10 14 11 9 — 55

Johnstown 21 7 8 10 4 — 50

3-point goals: Bishop Guilfoyle 11 (Khoza 4, Haigh 3, Smith 2, Wood 2); Johnstown 3 (Holiday 2, Toney).

Records: Bishop Guilfoyle (14-3); Johnstown (13-2).