Warrior Run has won two thrillers the past two years in the District 4 Class AAA quarterfinals. The Defenders made sure that wouldn’t be the case this year. Warrior Run dominated visiting Towanda from start to finish en route to a 55-19 win.

“That’s a good basketball team to hold him in 19 points. Little feather in our cap as well. So it’s something we talk about regularly,” Warrior Run coach Eric Wertan said. “And I just feel like the defensive effort was off the charts. One through five. I Couldn’t be happier.”

Warrior Run made it clear early on that it had come ready to play. On the first possession of the game, it found star big man Aiden McKee in the post, the double-team came and he found Griff Harrington cutting along the baseline for an easy layup. The Defender executed like that on offense all night long as they built a 13-2 lead with great shot selection and patience.

“I think we kind of dictated the pace. The reason, you know, maybe we only had (a few shot attempts) in the first quarter is how good we were on the defensive end, and they struggled to get a clean look Their possessions were a minute and a half, two minutes long. We were able to knock some shots down and get into some different sets,” Wertman said.

McKee set the tone on both ends. The junior finished with 18 effortless points. But, what may have been more impressive than his scoring total was the way he passed the ball, McKee, who also had 14 rebounds and five blocks, had four assists and seemingly always made the right play on offense.

“Unselfish is the word we always say about him, like we always tell our guards, ‘give it to him, you know, he’s gonna give it back to you if that’s the correct play,” Wertman said. “He knows what the correct play is, and he’s going to make it. He’s just super intelligent as well as super gifted.”

Towanda threatened to make it a competitive game when they scored the first four points of the second quarter. But James Keifer hit back-to-back 3s to extend the lead to 19-6. Warrior Run only allowed one field goal the rest of the quarter and they went into half with a 23-8 lead.

“James played great. The kid is a competitor. He’s the quarterback and he just wants the ball and understands the game and understands, ‘hey, we need to answer back.’ And he did right there in that situation twice,” Wertman said.

Warrior Run dominated the third quarter, eliminating any hopes of a Black Knight comeback. And, when McKee threw down a thunderous jam with 3:45 left in the fourth quarter, the Defenders led by 31 and put the game in the mercy rule to cap off a statement performance.

Warrior Run will advance to take on North Penn-Mansfield in next weekend’s semifinals, but they’re going to enjoy this one.

“I think we’re gonna sit back and enjoy this one tonight,” Wertman said.

Warrior Run 55, Towanda 19

TOWANDA (19)

Bayley Poll 2 0-0 6, Ben Shrawder 3 1-2 7, Connor Barnes 1 0-0 2, Markel Garner 2 0-0 4. Totals 7 1-2 19.

WARRIOR RUN (55)

Griff Harrington 2 0-0 4, James Keifer 5 1-2 14, Cooper Wilkins 4 0-0 2, Carter McCormick 1 0-0 2, Aiden McKee 9 0-0 18, Landon Polcyn 2 0-0 5, Max Burden 0 2-2 2. Totals 23 3-6 55.

Towanda 2 6 9 2 — 19

Warrior Run 13 10 17 15 — 55

3-point goals: Towanda 2 (Poll 2), Warrior Run 6 (Keifer 3, Wilkins 2, Polcyn 1).