ST. MARYS – The Johnsonburg boys delivered a bit of an upset in the D-9 Class A quarterfinals, as the seventh-seeded Rams (11-12) defeated second-seeded Cameron County (15-8) 52-44 on Thursday night.

Despite a 10-day layoff, Johnsonburg came up with a strong overall performance against a Red Raiders team that had won its last six games entering last night’s contest.

Kacey Raubenstrauch was the key for the Rams, as he scored a team-high 17 points, with 13 of those points coming at the free throw line as the junior went 13 for 14 from the charity stripe.

Cameron County’s Marcus Brown scored a game-high 20 points while sinking six 3-pointers, but it wasn’t enough as the Raiders’ offense petered out in the late going.

Brown was feeling it from long-range from the get-go, hitting three 3-pointers in the first quarter alone.

Johnsonburg got a big momentum boost when Raubenstrauch converted a three-point play late in the quarter to give the Rams a 12-10 lead.

Drew Akers (eight points) was able to answer Cameron County with some treys of his own to keep the Rams ahead in the second quarter.

Adam Shaffer (10 points) hit a long 3-pointer to end the half on a positive note for Cameron County, as the Raiders were able to cut their deficit to 28-25 going into the half.

But the Rams were able to keep their advantage thanks to some excellent rebounding and swarming defense, as the Red Raiders were often forced to take a long time to find a good shot on the offensive end.

Johnsonburg coach Bill Shuey utilized his bench to great effect, as the Rams came out with a much more balanced attack than their opponents.

“We don’t shoot the ball very well,” Shuey said. “I think in the first half we shot two for something from two-point range and we shot too many 3s. But we were able to keep ourselves in it.”

On the other side, Brown was almost single-handedly keeping his team in the game, continuing to knock down long-range shots. His shooting display left Shuey impressed, to say the least.

“They shot the ball very well,” he said. “We got pretty lucky. I thought Brown… man, he didn’t miss.”

Johnsonburg made some adjustments in the second half, though, switching to man-to-man defense to try to prevent so many outside shots, a strategy that ended up paying off.

“I thought we did a nice job on them once we switched out of zone and went to man,” Shuey said.

The third quarter ended with Johnsonburg holding a 39-35 lead. It would stay that way for quite some time.

Neither team could find anything offensively in the fourth quarter. It took more than five minutes for either side to find the scoreboard in the final period.

Cameron County eventually got a spark when Shaffer hit a tough 3-pointer with less than two minutes left to cut the deficit to 42-40.

From that point on, however, the game devolved into a free-throw shooting competition, one that featured Raubenstrauch as the main attraction.

Raubenstrauch went a perfect 10 for 10 from the line in the fourth quarter, sealing the game and the victory.

“We were good at the foul line down the stretch,” Shuey said. “If it wasn’t for that, this game would’ve been a lot different.”

Johnsonburg will face the winner of tonight’s contest between Oswayo Valley and Otto-Eldred, who will face off at Bradford High at 7:30 p.m.

“We’ve got to work on our execution in the halfcourt,” Shuey said with regards to what his team needs to work on in the semifinal round.

At ST. MARYS

Johnsonburg (52)

Ryan Kilhoffer 5 3-6 13, Sheldon 1 0-2 2, Kacey Raubenstrauch 2 13-14 17, Akers 1-2 8, Singer 2 0-0 5, Bliss 1 0-0 2, Green 2 0-0 5, Totals 16 16-22 52.

Cameron County (44)

Yarborough 0 2-2 2, Marcus Brown 7 0-0 20, Adam Shaffer 3 2-2 10, Rieder 2 2-2 6, Bauer 1 0-0 2, Walters 2 0-2 4, Totals 15 6-8 44.

Johnsonburg        12  28  39  52

Cameron County  12  25  35  44

Three-point goals: Johnsonburg 4 (Akers 2, Singer, Green), Cameron County 8 (Brown 6, Horning 2)

Total fouls: Johnsonburg 14, Cameron County 19. Fouled out: none

***

In the early game at St. Marys, North Clarion (14-9) defeated Port Allegany (12-11) 65-48.

The Wolves were led by Chase Schmader, who scored a game-high 23 points. Logan Minich (11 points) and Nathan Banner (10) also finished in double figures for North Clarion.

Howie Stuckey led Port Allegany with 22 points.

The Gators were forced into numerous turnovers by the Wolves’ swarming defense, leading to a lot of points in transition.

“Tonight that was the killer,” Port Allegany coach Jeff Stuckey said about his squad’s turnovers. “Not that they didn’t play good ‘D’, but we went back to what we were doing early in the season which was 20 or more turnovers, and that was the telltale.”

Stuckey also pointed to the Wolves’ strong rebounding as a factor in the game – as was the venue.

“Second half they were getting us on the boards, too,” he said. “Once they were beating us on the boards, they were kicking it out quick and beating us in transition. We were getting tired as well. It’s not called the Dutch Oven for no reason. It’s hot in there.”