Mirror photo by Michael Boytim Altoona’s Eliott McCloskey shoots over two Mifflin County defenders on Tuesday night in Lewistown.

LEWISTOWN — Midway through the third quarter, two Carson Franklin free throws put Mifflin County ahead of Altoona by 22 points in their District 6 Class 6A semifinal game Tuesday night, and things looked like they might get ugly for the Mountain Lions.

Instead, seniors Ethan and Dylan Hicks and Chris Wagner hit back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers to get Altoona back into the game. The Mountain Lions cut the lead all the way down to seven, and fellow senior Malakai Shields shot a 3-pointer with just more than three minutes left that went halfway down before it rimmed out.

The shot would have cut the Huskies lead to four, but instead, Jack Curry drilled a 3-pointer on the other side of the court to extend Mifflin County’s lead back to 10 in an eventual 70-55 victory.

“That was a big part of the game,” Altoona coach Doug Pfeffer said. “It seemed like every time we made a little bit of a run, they came up with big shots and made them. Credit to them.”

Curry, who missed a lot of the game with foul trouble, scored 14 of his team-high 17 points in the fourth quarter.

“Jack is a tough player that had a hard start with some foul trouble,” Mifflin County coach Wade Curry said. “But he usually finds a way to get the job done, and he came up with a big shot when we needed it. His teammates found him and made the extra passes, and he made that shot.”

It was Mifflin County’s seventh-straight win and earned the Huskies a berth in the District 6 championship game against top-seeded State College at Mount Aloysius College on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.

“We recommitted to the things that were keeping us from walking away with wins,” Wade Curry said. “A lot of games where we lost by a six-point margin or a two-point margin, we had a combination of a lot of small things that we weren’t doing right. We recommitted to doing those things, and I thought we showed that in the first half.”

Altoona took a 5-0 lead to start the game and held Mifflin County scoreless for the first two and a half minutes after a bad first quarter hurt them in a 62-40 regular-season loss at Mifflin County on Feb. 9.

“We decided to switch things up a little bit. We played man the whole time last time, and we played zone a little bit tonight,” Pfeffer said. “We maybe caught them off guard a little bit, and it worked at the beginning, but then they caught on to it. They have some good shooters, so we had to switch back to man. But I didn’t think our defense was the problem tonight.”

Curry’s only first-half points came on a 3-pointer with 2:33 to play in the first quarter that gave Mifflin County its first lead. Wagner responded with a jump shot, but the Huskies scored the last six points of the quarter to take control and held the Mountain Lions to just four points in the second quarter while building a 15-point lead.

Wagner led the second-half charge for Altoona. He scored 18 of his game-high 24 points in the final two quarters of his high school career.

“We realized that if we lost, it was our last game and wanted to leave everything out there,” Wagner said. “Everyone gave it their all.”

Seniors Wagner, Shields (11 points) and Ethan and Dylan Hicks (six points each) combined to score 47 of Altoona’s 55 points. Justin Pfeffer’s eight points were the only ones scored by underclassmen.

“I had an emotional talk with them,” Pfeffer said. “They stuck in this program for three years now. The last two years were not good years for Altoona basketball. They could have quit and not shown effort, but they never did. They are good kids, and they deserved a better win-loss record than we had, but they put it all out on the court for us game in and game out.”

One of the highlights of the season came on Wagner’s go-ahead 3-pointer at the AAHS Fieldhouse to give the Mountain Lions a one-point win over Harrisburg.

“Chris is a phenomenal young man,” Pfeffer said. “He worked his tail off from seventh grade up until now. He put the time in, and he’s been a huge part of our success. Obviously our win-loss record has not been very good, but especially this year, we have been in more games and have been competitive. He’s been a huge part of that.”

Despite the Mountain Lions finishing 5-18, Pfeffer said he’s seen progress.

“We competed, unlike the last two years where a lot of games were blowouts,” Pfeffer said. “We were in games a lot for two or three quarters, and then a quarter or a bad couple of minutes hurt us. We have shown we can be competitive. It’s going to take a lot of hard work and time in the offseason, but I really think the future could be bright for Altoona basketball.”

Wagner was grateful for the chance to go out with a competitive game with his teammates.

“I’ll remember everything. The wins, the losses, the bus rides, the nights at the hotel,” Wagner said. “I’ll always remember these guys. This senior class has been playing together for eight years now, and we have always had great chemistry.”

ALTOONA (55): Shields 4 1-2 11, Wagner 8 6-6 24, Chathams 0 0-0 0, Pfeffer 4 0-0 8, McCloskey 0 0-0 0, E. Hicks 2 0-0 6, D. Hicks 2 0-0 6, Cochran 0 0-0 0, Helsel 0 0-0 0, Wuckovich 0 0-0 0, Coldwell 0 0-0 0, Gergley 0 0-0 0. Totals — 20 7-8 55.

MIFFLIN COUNTY (70): Bender 3 2-2 10, Keller 4 0-0 9, Hartzler 4 2-2 10, Hartung 5 0-0 11, Curry 5 4-4 17, Hartsock 3 0-0 6, Franklin 2 2-2 7. Totals — 26 10-10 70.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Altoona 11 4 13 27 — 55

Mifflin County 18 12 14 26 — 70

3-point goals: Altoona 8 (Shields 2, Wagner 2, E. Hicks 2, D. Hicks 2); Mifflin County 8 (Curry 3, Bender 2, Keller, Hartung, Franklin).

Records: Altoona (5-18); Mifflin County (13-10).

Officials: Ryan Ehrie, Ethan Vipond, Matthew Hilbert.