TOWER CITY - With time winding down, a quick "un-de-feat-ed" chant broke out from the Mahanoy Area fans.
The Golden Bears treated the game as their biggest test of the year. They responded with their best performance of the season.
Dylan Mahmod poured in a game-high 21 points as a fast start keyed Mahanoy Area's 58-34 Schuylkill League Division II-III crossover victory over previously undefeated Williams Valley on Tuesday evening.
Tyler Cavenas added 17 points, nine rebounds and three rebounds for the Golden Bears (13-0, 7-0 D-III), who came in ranked eighth in the state in Class A in the latest PennLive.com rankings. Larry McNeil had a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds for Mahanoy Area.
Mahmod also had eight rebounds and four assists.
"We defended against a very good team," Golden Bears coach Mickey Holland said. "I thought everybody did their job. We didn't turn it over much and we were selective in our shots. I am really thrilled with our performance."
Mahanoy Area opened the game on a 20-5, first-quarter run and never let the Vikings (10-1, 5-1 D-II) get back in the game. The Golden Bears shot 8-for-11 (73 percent) from the floor in the first quarter, including a 4-for-5 showing on 3-pointers.
Mahanoy Area led 34-19 at halftime and 46-28 after three quarters. The Golden Bears finished the night 23-of-44 (52 percent) from the field.
"It's the biggest win of the season so far," Mahmod said. "We came in here, thinking at the beginning of the season, we didn't even think they would be competitive but they are good team. We found that out Saturday (Williams Valley's 70-35 win over Upper Dauphin).
"Me and Coach Holland came down to watch the game and we just realized we needed to get this one. This is the biggest win on our schedule so far."
Brendan Miller and Stephen Sedesse had seven points apiece for Williams Valley, while Nick Rodichok and Ben Rautzahn had six rebounds apiece.
It wasn't as if the Vikings played all that poorly. They didn't.
Williams Valley certainly didn't give the ball away, turning it over only six times in the game, including one in the first half. But the Vikings couldn't get their shots to fall.
Forced to take mostly shots from the perimeter, Williams Valley hit 10-of-53 (19 percent) from the floor in the game. The Vikings did make six 3-pointers on the night, but finished 6-of-29 from beyond the arc.
Tuesday's win was the ninth time this season the Golden Bears' defense held an opponent to less than 40 points in a game.
"They brought their 'A-game' tonight," Williams Valley coach Denny Kasper said. "We have to learn by it. Maybe we are over-rated, I am not sure, but tonight was a good time to play this team, halfway through the season.
"We took too many 3s. Give then credit, they took us out of our offense and took us out of what we wanted to do. The shots we were taking were the shots we were getting."
Mahanoy Area had no problem with its offense, especially in the first quarter, displaying excellent ball movement against Williams Valley's 2-3 zone. The Golden Bears hit four 3-pointers over the first 8 minutes, and when they were hitting from the outside, Mahanoy Area found lots of room on the baseline for passes underneath for layups.
Cavenas opened the scoring with layup, while a pull-up jumper from Cody Miller tied the game at 2.
Mahanoy Area then scored on its next three possessions as Mahnod hit a 3, Andy Kuzma scored on a layup and Jason Richmond knocked down another 3 from the top of the circle on an inbounds pass from Mahmod.
After Rodichok made a 3 from the top of the circle, making it 10-5, Mahanoy Area finished the quarter on a 10-0 run. Cavenas hit two layups, while McNeil hit 3s on back-to-back possessions.
"We you get a lift like that in the beginning, it just carries you throughout the game," Mahmod said. "We were all into it. We were ready to go from the start."
The Vikings cut the deficit to 31-19 late in the first half after a 3-pointer by Jared Matter. But Mahmod finished the half with 3 from the top of the circle off a Cavenas pick, making it 34-19 at the half.
"They were the better team," Kasper said. "They are fun to watch when they are not playing you."