Although his team was a No. 14 seed for the WPIAL Class AA boys' basketball playoffs, Greensburg Central Catholic coach Ron Palcic truly believed the Centurions could play with No. 3 seed North Catholic.

Palcic's team proved him right, except for three minutes.

In a three-minute span in the third quarter, North Catholic went on a 9-0 run, took control of the game and went on to a 57-50 victory last night in a first-round game at Shaler.

The win puts North Catholic (21-2) in the quarterfinals for the fifth time in the past six seasons; Greensburg Central Catholic (16-8) lost in the preliminary or first round for the eighth time in nine seasons.

It was a span of 3 minutes, 33 seconds that made the difference. That's how long it took for North Catholic to turn a 29-28 deficit into a 37-29 lead in the third quarter. The Centurions never got closer than six the rest of the way.

"We knew North Catholic was a great team, but we thought we could play with them," Palcic said. "Those three bad minutes did it. Besides those three minutes, I think it was a very competitive game."

North Catholic coach Dave Long believed his team took Greensburg Central Catholic too lightly, and senior center Henry Pwono agreed. At halftime, reality hit as Greensburg Central held a 27-25 lead.

"Let's just say I encouraged the guys in the normal Dave Long way at halftime," the coach said. "I think we played with a little more sense of urgency in the second half."

After Greensburg Central took a 29-28 lead early in the third quarter, North Catholic got some steals and converted, and got some baskets on drives to the basket. Matt Long, Pwono and Martin Long all scored in the 9-0 run. North Catholic took a 43-33 lead into the fourth quarter.

"I think we were a little too overconfident," Pwono said. "I don't know if we played with a little more sense of urgency in the second half, or maybe it was just pride or something."

Pwono was one of four North Catholic players in double figures with 10 points, seven in the second half. Jesse Long led with 16 points, Matt Long added 14 points and Martin Long 13.

Matt and Martin are brothers and Jesse is their cousin. Dave Long is their uncle, and Dave's son, Joe, also is a starter on the team.

Senior forward Chris Tamasy led Greensburg Central with 16 points and senior guard Adam Palcic added 14. Tamasy fouled out with 3:35 left in the game and Greensburg Central trailing by eight.

"All of our guys saw Greensburg Central play Friday night," Dave Long said. "I think our guys thought they had some talent, but I don't think it registered that they could really play with us. That's kind of these guys' Achilles tendon. They don't always rev it up, depending on the team."

But at least they revved it for three minutes.