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EBENSBURG -- An old sports adage holds that defense wins championships.
Defense certainly propelled Bishop Guilfoyle Catholic to victory in the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference championship game Saturday night.
The Marauders limited a high-scoring, vaunted Central offense to just 28 total points in a 42-28 victory before a packed Central Cambria High School gymnasium.
Central (22-2) was held to single digits in the first, second and third quarters by Guilfoyle, which won the rubber game in the three matchups between the two schools and improved to 21-3.
"I'm super proud of our kids,'' Guilfoyle coach Chris Drenning said. "We had a defensive game plan set up tonight and I thought that we executed that game plan very well.
"We have really grown as a team since the beginning of the season, and we have really made progress on the defensive end of the floor,'' Drenning added.
Sophomore Jude Haigh led the Marauders with 16 points, while his older brother Patrick, a senior, added 15, including 11 in the fourth quarter, when Guilfoyle put the game away.
The Marauders fell short of appearing in the conference championship game last year, and lost to Richland in the District 6 Class 3A championship game, so Saturday's win felt very special for the BG players.
"This feels amazing, especially after how we went out last year,'' Patrick Haigh said. "We didn't have a chance to play for the conference title, and we lost the district championship game.
"I think that was in the back of our minds tonight,'' Patrick Haigh added. "We wanted to show people that we're back.''
Jude Haigh seconded those thoughts.
"This was a fun game to be in, and I thought that our defense rallied us,'' Jude Haigh said. "Winning this conference championship is very special for us. We didn't have a chance to be in this game last year after we lost to Penn Cambria in the semifinal round of the conference tournament, so this means a lot to me and to all my teammates.''
BG led only 14-11 at halftime, but carried the third quarter, 11-4, to build a 25-15 advantage after three stops.
Leading 17-13, BG closed the quarter on an 8-2 run, with Patrick Haigh hitting a jumper from the top of the key, sophomore Trevor Rehm getting a shooter's roll on a field goal from the middle of the key, Jude Haigh hitting a pair of free throws, and freshman Taurean Consiglio scoring a layup off a nifty drive.
Central -- which suffered both its losses this season to BG after routing the Marauders in BG's season opener --made just 10 of 41 floor shots for a 24.4 percent clip.
Only two players entered the scoring column for the Scarlet Dragons, with senior Eli Lingenfelter scoring a game-high 22 points.
"They're a great defensive team,'' Central coach Paul Frederick said of the Marauders. "They're well-coached, and they're long in a lot of spots.
"But we never found our rhythm on the offensive end tonight,'' Frederick added. "We couldn't find any kind of consistency offensively, and even when we did get some good looks tonight, we didn't make many shots.''
The Marauders gained a firm upper hand at the outset of the fourth period on two Patrick Haigh layups sandwiched around a Jude Haigh jumper to take a 31-15 advantage. BG bumped its advantage up to 18 points, 42-24, on a Patrick Haigh layup and free throw late in the fourth quarter.
Patrick Haigh scored five field goals in the final period for BG, which converted 16 of 33 floor shots (48.4 percent) in the game and outrebounded Central, 24-18, with Rehm grabbing a game-high nine.
Both teams are top seeds -- Central in Class 4A and Bishop Guilfoyle in Class 3A -- entering the upcoming District 6 playoffs.
BG faces the winner of Tuesday's Philipsburg-Osceola-Richland game in a quarterfinal-round matchup at the Pleasant Valley gymnasium Friday night, while Central gets a bye into the District 6 Class 4A championship game on Feb. 28 against either Johnstown or Juniata High School at Mount Aloysius College.
"Our kids are tough kids,'' Frederick said. "We'll prepare in the next week and we'll get back after it. We know that we will have to play a lot better than we did tonight.''
BISHOP GUILFOYLE (42): P. Haigh 7 1-1 15, J. Haigh 4 7-7 16, Woolridge 1 0-0 3, Trev. Rehm 2 0-0 4, Foor 0 0-0 0, Kiesewetter 0 0-1 0, Consiglio 2 0-0 4, C. Kissell 0 0-0 0, J. Kissell 0 0-0 0, Ruggery 0 0-0 0, Robertson 0 0-0 0, Yanoshak 0 0-0 0. Totals - 16 8-9 42.
CENTRAL (28): Yingling 0 0-0 0, Lingenfelter 8 6-8 22, Muthler 2 0-0 6, Bean 0 0-0 0, Daugherty 0 0-0 0, Butler 0 0-0 0, Albright 0 0-0 0, Long-Yarrison 0 0-0 0, Byler 0 0-0 0, Garver 0 0-0 0, Klotz 0 0-0 0. Totals - 10 6-8 28.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Bishop Guilfoyle 12 2 11 17 -- 42
Centra 3 8 4 13 -- 28
3-point goals: Bishop Guilfoyle 2 (J. Haigh, Woolridge): Central 2 (Muthler 2):
Records: Bishop Guilfoyle (21-3); Central (22-2).
Officials: Clark Adelman, Dave Heim, Randy Burkett.