MAHANOY CITY - After overwhelming its first four opponents, Mahanoy Area figured to get its first real test of the young season Saturday.
But even without center Tyler Cavenas, the game ended up as the previous four: A Golden Bears double-digit win.
Larry McNeil paced four Mahanoy Area players in double figures with 18 points, while a fast start keyed a 59-48 victory over Pius X in a non-league contest at the Mahanoy Area Middle School gymnasium.
Saturday's game was a rematch of the previous two District 11 Class A championship games, with the Royals winning 38-36 in 2012 and Mahanoy Area prevailing 57-55 last season.
Despite it being just the fifth game of the season, the Golden Bears (5-0) treated Saturday as almost a playoff game.
It was certainly intense enough to be one.
"A big game, a really big game," McNeil said. "We treated it as one of the big games of the season, a championship game, basically.
"It felt like one."
The win was even more impressive without Cavenas, who sat out with a twisted ankle he suffered during Thursday's 59-20 win over Weatherly. Cavenas was able to walk and jog on the ankle but he couldn't make cuts and was held out as a precautionary measure.
Thursday's rout over the Wreckers came during a string of blowout victories for Mahanoy Area so far this year. The Golden Bears came into Saturday outscoring their opponents 228-99, and Pius X was the first team this season to score more than 30 points in a game against Mahanoy Area.
Brian Miller (16), Jason Richmond and Dylan Mahmod (11) all hit double digits in scoring for the Golden Bears on Saturday. Miller added nine rebounds, while Mahmod and McNeil had six apiece. Richmond and Mahmod also had four assists apiece.
Eric Marbury had a game-high 22 points for Pius X (1-2), which hadn't played since a 73-27 rout of Pocono Mountain Charter on Dec. 11. Klein Duviella and Anthony Holmes added eight points apiece for the Royals, who finished 20-for-67 (30 percent) from the floor.
The first six minutes of the game couldn't have gone better for Mahanoy Area, which opened on a 19-7 run, hitting 7-of-10 from the floor. Two of those misses turned into offensive rebounds by McNeil and Mahmod that resulted in points.
"It gave us a lot of momentum to have a great start like that," McNeil said. "When you are hitting your shots, everyone is up, happy, moving around.
"I think the key was the way we read their defense. The way we made our cuts, set our screens."
Miller and Mahmod both had seven points during the first quarter. Miller opened the game scoring on a 14-foot jumper and followed with a 3-pointer from the top of the circle.
"I thought Miller gave us a tremendous boost in the beginning," Mahanoy Area coach Mickey Holland said. "He did a great job on the boards."
Richmond followed with another 3, while McNeil was fouled on putback attempt and hit both free throws.
After Marbury hit a 3-poiner to make it 10-5, Mahmod scored on a drive, Miller scored on a drive down the left lane and Mahmod hit a 3.
Two foul shots from Marbury, who had all 11 of Pius X's first-quarter points, made it 17-7. But Mahmod was fouled as he attempted to score off his own miss and hit both foul shots to make it 19-7 with 2:12 left in the first.
The early advantage forced the Royals to play catch-up the rest of the way. Pius X used its pressure defense to stay in the game as the Golden Bears turned the ball over 16 times, including 10 off steals. But each time the Royals got close, Mahanoy Area responded with a run of its own.
"The thing I am happiest about is the fact that, even their runs, we withstood their runs," Holland said. "I think the fact that we are a veteran team, we handled that well, the adversity part."
Pius X cut the deficit to six at 29-23 early in the second half. But the Golden Bears went on an 11-1 run to push the lead back up to 40-24 after a 3 from McNeil with 2:07 left in the third quarter.
The Royals cut the deficit to 10 twice in the fourth quarter, finally at 51-41 with 1:49 left in the game on jumper by Marbury. Mahanoy Area then sealed it from the foul line, hitting 8-for-10 the rest of the way.
"They forced us into some turnovers," Holland said. "We are going to turn the ball over, and we can't turn it over and react to the turnover and turn them into buckets. Only once or twice did I think that happened."