Green, as has been the case all tournament, then got the hot hand. After missing his first four shots, he hit three 3-pointers to give the Bruins a 31-20 cushion at halftime.

SLCC had a mild scare toward the end of the game. Three Rivers pulled within 10 points on back-to-back three-point plays at the 4:28 mark, but the Bruins didn't panic. Green grabbed an offensive rebound that led to a driving DaVell Jackson hoop. Jackson then spun around while bursting toward the bucket again for an off-balance shot.

Banny then got in the act, creating a Jackson layup with an over-the-shoulder no-look pass and finishing off a three-point play after twisting in for a basket to cap a game-clinching 9-0 run.

Banny ended with 15 points, Jackson added 13 and Palmer had a dozen and a team-high six rebounds for the Bruins, who shot 51 percent.

Five Pirates average double figures on the season, but only Valov (15 points, eight rebounds) and Bryan Sherrer (15 points on 4-for-13 shooting) did that against SLCC. Sherrer said the Bruins were tough to penetrate because they helped out on defense and then got back on the outside shooters.

"They did a pretty good job of defense," he said.

And they just might win a championship because of it.

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E-mail: jody@desnews.com

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