DUKE CENTER — It was a game the Smethport Hubbers had to have.

And when it began, they wasted no time taking it.

Smethport jumped out to a 20-8 lead mid-way through the second quarter and held off Otto-Eldred’s comeback bid late to score a critical 56-45 victory to its playoff push on Monday night.

The Hubbers (10-9, 9-4) needed a win against O-E Monday as well as tonight’s game against Port Allegany to help reach the magical .500 mark to qualify for the District playoffs. Smethport does have two games remaining after that, but they’re against Coudersport and Cameron County — which have a combined 33-6 record.

“Coming into this, we knew it was a must-win game, so we just mentally prepared for it,” Smethport coach Jay Acker said of his team’s hot start. “We knew Otto was going to come out and play us really tough, and obviously they did. We knew they were going to throw the 1-3-1 at us and we were also prepared for that.”

The two teams combined for 41 fouls in a physical, hard-fought game — but it was the Hubbers that reaped the benefits of the active whistles.

Smethport hit 11 free throws in the second quarter alone as part of a 22-for-28 performance from the charity stripe in the game. Otto, meanwhile, missed seven first-half free throws en route to a 28-18 deficit after 16 minutes.

“I thought they definitely wanted it more than us,” Otto-Eldred head coach Dan Dalton said.  “Give them credit, they came and got it. They deserved it.”

The Terrors (10-9, 7-8) played much better in the second half, but with how strong Smethport was playing defensively, there was little chance for a comeback. The Hubbers forced at least four turnovers in every quarter, and it led to Otto getting into plenty of bad positions on the other end as well.

“We limited them to some easy shots and once we made a couple adjustments we got some good stops and then came down and finished,” Acker said. “I think we finished 50 percent and for us that’s great. I think we finished 30-something percent in the first half but we were making free throws and that’s really what kept us in the game.”

Otto hit six 3-pointers in the game, but four of them came in the second half with the Hubbers already holding a double-digit lead.

“We have pretty good uniform size,” Acker said. “They hit some 3’s there at the end, but we were playing good defense and they were tough shots that just went in. Our defense really played great.”

The Hubbers had a solid one-two punch offensively, with Caleb Lutz (21 points) and Connor Alfieri (18) leading the scoring.

Lutz hit just two shots from the field in the game, but sunk an impressive 16 free throws — including seven in the fourth quarter —  to help put the game away.

“Caleb took control of the team, made the foul shots, and kept the team under control,” Acker said.

Conversely, Otto missed the front-end of three straight one-and-one opportunities in the second quarter and dug a hole they just couldn’t get out of against that relentless Hubber defense.

“I think (those free throws) could have kept us in the game a little bit more,” Dalton said. “I think they saw a couple go in and it’s hard to come back when they play good defense like that. We just didn’t have it tonight; they were better than us.”

For Smethport, as impressive as Monday’s win over Otto was, they’ll now need to come back and replicate that same kind of energy and efficiency against Port Allegany in another game they just have to have.

“This was the must-win, and now tomorrow is the must must-win,” Acker said.

Smethport beat the Gators 55-27 in their first meeting this season.

“There’s not much to think about, just keep it going. Play like we did here, play hard and get the ‘W’ and continue on. That was kind of the long focus last week at practice; take care of business.”

AT DUKE CENTER

Smethport (56)

Caleb Lutz 2 16-19 21, Connor Alfieri 6 6-8 18, Woodruff 3 0-1 6, Peterson 2 0-1 4, Costa 1 0-0 3, Szarowicz 1 0-0 3. Totals: 15 22-28 56

Otto-Eldred (45)

Gavin Jimerson 4 0-1 11, Merry 3 1-2 9, Sheeler 2 3-4 7, Cole Sebastian 3 3-4 10, Ch. Sebastian 1 0-0 2, Grigsby 0 1-2 1, Maholic 2 1-3 5. Totals: 15 9-17 45

Smethport  12 28 37 56

Otto-Eldred 5   18 27 45

Three-point goals: Smeth 3 (Szarowicz, Costa, Lutz), O-E 6 (Merry 2, Jimerson 3, Co. Sebastian); total fouls: Smeth 16, O-E 24; fouled out: Ch. Sebastian, Sheeler (O-E)

JV: Smethport won