EBENSBURG — For as strong as the Penn Cambria boys basketball team looked on Friday night, Saturday afternoon it was also reminded of the work that still lies ahead.

Conemaugh Township jumped out to an 18-point halftime lead and for the most part never looked back as the Indians won the Ron Davidson Roundball Classic championship 63-52 over the Panthers at Central Cambria High School.

“Our rotations were awful the first half,” Penn Cambria coach Jim Ronan said. “We knew that we had to pressure these guys to get them out of their half court set because we couldn’t match up with the two bigs.

“Unfortunately, we gave them too many easy baskets because our rotations weren’t there today.”

The Indians efforts started with a 12-2 run in the first as tournament MVP Colin Dinyar put away a floater on his way to scoring a game-high 23 points — scoring nine in the opening stanza alone. He was perfect on all seven of his free-throw attempts.

Greyson Studer made matters more difficult for the Panthers as he knocked down a three which gave Township at 20-10 lead after one.

“I was glad that we dug in deep defensively early and I thought we made things tough on them,” Conemaugh Township coach Charles Lesko said. “Luckily for us they weren’t making many shots until late in the game. If we can control the boards and play defense the way we are capable of, good things can happen for us.”

Turnovers also became problematic for Penn Cambria as Dinyar converted on a turnover before burying another bucket from the elbow to give the Indians a 35-17 halftime lead.

“They’re such a good rebounding team,” Ronan said. “If you go flat shooting, you’re in trouble against that team because you’re not going to get many offensive rebounds for second shots. We knew we had to make some threes today. We did, but it was late.”

Conemaugh Township didn’t let up in the third as Studer added a layup as part of a frame the Indians outscored the Panthers 13-6 to take a 48-23 lead heading into the fourth.

The Panthers did make matters interesting in the fourth as Landon Semelsberger buried a pair of threes — including one with a little under 2½ minutes to play — cutting the deficit down to 10 at 53-43.

Blake Lilly led the Panthers with 17 points as Penn Cambria outscored Conemaugh Township, 29-15, during the fourth quarter.

Studer, though, was clutch at the free-throw line as he drained 5-out-of-6 attempts to put the game on ice.

“Their guards are tough guards; they’re strong guards,” Ronan said. “They don’t rattle under pressure. They’re strong enough to get the ball up and then find the mismatches. Those are tough high school mismatches, very tough.”

The host Red Devils pummeled Cambria Heights in the consolation game 79-36. Brayden Swope led all scorers with 19 points while JD Brouse added 18.

Brayden DeArmitt led the Highlanders with 10 points.

Marshall, DeArmitt, and the Red Devils’ Ridge Kutchman joined Dinyar on the all-tournament team along with his teammates Studer, and Stephen Stargo.

CONSOLATION

CAMBRIA HEIGHTS (36): Clawson 2 0-2 4, Farabaugh 1 1 4-6 6, Ivory 0 0-0 0, Lobick 2 0-0 5, Kubat 0 3-6 3, L. Kline 3 0-2 6, M. Kline 1 0-0 2, DeArmitt 4 1-1 10, Datko 0 0-0 0, Thomas 0 0-0 0, Gwizdak 0 0-0 0, Joseph 0 0-0 0, Kutruff 0 0-0 0, Valeria 0 0-0 0. Totals: 13 5-17 36.

CENTRAL CAMBRIA (79): Brouse 9 0-0 18, Kutchman 3 0-1 7, Swope 7 2-2 19, Barra 1 0-0 2, Sinosky 2 0-0 5, McClosky 3 1-1 8, Jackson 0 0-0 0, Giles 3 0-0 6, Muldoon 1 0-0 3, McConnell 1 0-0 2, James 0 1-2 1, Strauch 3 0-0 8, Fisher 0 0-0 0, Oravec 0 0-0 0, Takacs 0 0-0 0. Totals 33 4-6 79.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Cambria Heights 11 11 7 7 – 36

Central Cambria 18 19 23 19 – 79

3-point goals: Cambria Heights 2 (Lobick, DeArmitt), Central Cambria 9 (Kutchman, Barra 3, Sinosky, McClosky, Muldoon, Strauch).

Records: Cambria Heights (0-3), Central Cambria (1-1).

CHAMPIONSHIP

CONEMAUGH TOWNSHIP (63): Dinyar 8 7-7 23, Studer 4 5-6 16, Brotz 2 1-2 5, Stargo 3 1-2 7, McClemens 4 1-2 9, Bartis 0 1-2 1, Dail 1 0-0 2, Shippey 0 0-0 0, Baker 0 0-0 0, Lohr 0 0-0 0. Totals: 22 16-21 63.

PENN CAMBRIA (52): Gibbons 1 1-2 4, Mallory 0 1-2 1, Nadolsky 2 0-0 4, Lilly 7 3-3 17, Davison 3 0-0 9, Marshall 1 0-2 2, Rice 0 0-0 0, Semelsberger 3 0-0 8, B. Jones 0 0-0 0, Price 1 0-0 2, Foreman 0 0-0 0, N. Jones 0 0-0 0, C. Gides 0 0-0 0, G. Gides 0 0-0 0, Himmer 0 0-0 0. Totals: 20 6-12 52.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Conemaugh Township 20 15 13 15 – 63

Penn Cambria 10 7 6 29 – 52

3-point goals: Conemaugh Township 3 (Studer 3), Penn Cambria 6 (Gibbons, Semelsberger 2, Davison 3)

Records: Conemaugh Township (3-0), Penn Cambria (1-1).

Officials: Courtney Cecere, Brock Kauffman, Shawn Sinclair.