The junior hit from deep, knocked down midrange shots, got turnarounds to go like it was nothing and scored inside.

Everything was going his and the Eagles’ way until Jesse Muthler and Bentley Dickson had a series with back-to-back blocks on Roby, before Muthler grabbed the defensive rebound on the second rejection and walked right into a 3-pointer on the other end.

The shot from about 6 feet beyond the 3-point line gave the top-seeded Scarlet Dragons a lead late that they didn’t relinquish in a 51-43 District 5-6 Class 4A semifinal matchup on Monday night against fourth-seeded Somerset.

“We’re always happy to win in the playoffs,” Central coach Paul Frederick said. “You would like it to be pretty but that’s not always the case. … It’s a gutsy win from our kids, and we didn’t shoot the ball as well as we have been the last couple of games. We’re fortunate to get the win.”

02/17/26 Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski / Central's Dylan Hoover passes off by Somerset's Jake Stoy.

Following a missed trey attempt, Somerset’s Kellan Hagans got an offensive rebound in the lane where he spun and tried a fall-away, but he had the ball tipped enough by the Dragons’ Christian Heuston.

Roby grabbed the rebound underneath the hoop and went up but Muthler blocked it.

Roby again pulled out of the air and powered his way up but Dickson, who was standing on the baseline side, knocked it away where Muthler secured the rebound.

Muthler passed it over to Josh Beltz who gave it right back to Muthler.

Roby was guarding Muthler but he backed up defensively inside the 3-point line, which gave Muthler all the room he needed to walk right into the shot.

“What a clutch play. There was at least two if not three blocks on that series,” Frederick said. “I was actually thinking about calling a timeout but before I could even get the timeout called, he (Muthler) pulled up and just made an incredibly clutch play. That’s pretty big time for a sophomore to do that.”

The basket came with 2:49 remaining and gave Central a 44-42 edge.

Following a 5-second call turnover on the Eagles, Muthler, who led the Dragons with 19 points, drove all the way to the rim this time to extend the lead to four at 46-42.

A free throw by Somerset’s Deacon Sherbine, who fouled out 15 seconds later, cut it to a one possession contest with 1:33 showing on the clock.

The Scarlet Dragons went 5-for-6 from the foul line down the stretch to set the final margin.

Central will face second-seeded Huntingdon, a 63-54 winner over Juniata in the other semifinal, on Monday night for the championship with the tip scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

With Central leading 11-9 at the end of the opening quarter, a trey from Roby a little over a minute into the stanza put the visitors on top from that point until the Muthler 3-pointer late in the fourth.

While Somerset recorded a 19-12 scoring advantage in the second frame, it was Roby that took over with 12 of those points.

“We needed a couple of big baskets and he (Roby) and he was available (to give them) tonight,” Somerset coach Wade Fyock said.

Down 19-14, Central got driving layups from Dylan Hoover and Dickson to pull within one at 19-18.

Somerset would reel off nine of the next 11 points with Roby accounting for seven to give it the 28-20 edge.

Muthler, after a series of fakes, rose up to launch a 3-pointer to beat the first half buzzer.

Fortunately, for the Scarlet Dragons, Muthler was founded with no time left on the first half clock.

The sophomore went to the line and sank all three foul shots to decrease the deficit down to just five.

Sherbine recorded 12 of his 14 points in the opening half, while Roby totaled 16 of his game-high 24 in the same span as the two had all 28 of Somerset’s first half points.

“Our game plan obviously was to do a better job on them,” Frederick said.

Central came out with a different game plan in the second half as it looked to trap and jump.

The plan worked as the Dragons forced 10 Eagles’ turnovers in the third frame.

“We had opportunities but too many turnovers and unfamiliar situations,” Fyock said. “We haven’t put ourselves in those tight situations enough to be comfortable. That showed tonight.”

Unfortunately, Central was still struggling to put the ball in the hoop and it was only able to muster a 10-8 scoring edge in the third quarter to trim the deficit down to three at 36-33.

“We turned them (Somerset) over a good bit in the third. That was the biggest difference in the game because we still weren’t shooting the ball very well in the third quarter,” Frederick said. “They weren’t getting shots up either because we were able to turn them over quite a bit. We’re fortunate did a great job in our press and man jump there. It was effective.”

Kellan Hagans converted a layup for Somerset to begin the fourth before a driving layup and 3-pointer from Dickson, who registered 13 points, tied the game at 38-38 at the 6:06 mark.

Roby drilled his fifth triple of the night to give Somerset the upper hand again, but Heuston came down the floor and answered back with a 3-pointer of his own to knot the game again.

Sherbine made the first of two from the line to give Somerset its last lead at 42-41 with 4:10 to go.

SOMERSET (43): Sherbine 5 3-7 14, Stoy 0 0-0 0, C. Hagans 0 0-0 0, K. Hagans 1 1-2 3, Roby 9 1-1 24, Thompson 0 0-0 0, Speelman 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16 5-12 43.

CENTRAL (51): Dickson 6 0-0 13, Muthler 6 6-8 19, Heuston 2 2-2 7, Hoover 2 3-4 7, Beltz 2 1-2 5, Rhodes 0 0-0 0, Scott 0 0-0 0. Totals: 18 12-16 51.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Somerset 9 19 8 7 — 43

Central 11 12 10 18 — 51

3-point field goals: Somerset 6 (Roby 5, Sherbine); Central 3 (Dickson, Muthler, Heuston).

Records: Somerset (6-16); Central (15-8).