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New Castle guard Mark DeMonaco stands only 5-foot-6, but last night, that was tall enough to see all the way from Robert Morris University to Uniontown.

DeMonaco, the Red Hurricanes' point guard, single-handedly outscored Mt. Lebanon in the first half, providing the offensive spark his team needed to defeat the Blue Devils, 60-44, in a PIAA quarterfinal game at Robert Morris.

"We do kind of feed off of Mark's energy," New Castle coach John Sarandrea said. "He brings so much to the team, and a lot of it doesn't show up in the box score. A lot does, but a lot doesn't."

DeMonaco, who is listed at 5-9, but stands closer to 5-6, scored 16 first-half points, including four 3-pointers, to help build a 29-13 halftime lead.

The senior, who often is looked to by teammates to be the sparkplug, forced Mt. Lebanon (20-10) to extend its defensive zone and helped New Castle (30-1) advance to the PIAA Western Regional Championship where it will face Uniontown.

"(DeMonaco's) effort was outstanding, especially … early when we had to establish that the zone was not going to hurt us," Sarandrea said. "I think because of him, in particular, we kept Mt. Lebanon at a good distance most of the night.

"He's 5-foot-6 on a good day; we tease him all the time about that. Even on the metric system you can't get 5-9 out of him, but he's about 6-10 heart-wise."

The Red Hurricanes will face Uniontown on Wednesday night in a rematch of the WPIAL Championship game which the Red Raiders won, 60-57. Uniontown advanced to the Western final by defeating Erie Cathedral Prep, 48-45, last night.

Holding a double-figure lead over Mt. Lebanon, New Castle fought off a third-quarter charge led by Chris Pinch's nine points, but the Blue Devils could got no closer than 12 points in the second half.

"Once they settled down and said, 'Hey, here we are getting our butts kicked,' they showed that they could play with New Castle," Mt. Lebanon coach Joe David said. "They didn't show that the first time we played against New Castle."

New Castle had claimed an 88-58 victory over Mt. Lebanon during the regular season, a game in which the Red Hurricanes made 13 3-point baskets. Last night, New Castle made 22 of 54 shots from the floor, but just 6 of 23 from behind the 3-point arc.

"It's tough to play a team that you've already beaten (earlier in the season)," Sarandrea said of facing Mt. Lebanon. "Not for any reason other than respect for them. We played our best game of the season down there. I knew that we were not going to duplicate that performance this evening."

Spurred on by back-to-back baskets by DeMonaco, New Castle opened with an 8-2 run against Mt. Lebanon, en route to a 10-point lead after one quarter. DeMonaco, who scored 10 of his game-high 21 points in the opening period, made 7 of 16 shot attempts — including 13 from behind the 3-point arc.

"They feed off everything," DeMonaco said of his teammates. "As soon as someone gets going, everyone starts making everything. We knew that we were going to have to makes some (perimeter) shots against their zone."

In the second quarter, the Blue Devils were held to just two field goals by the Red Hurricanes' pressing defense as New Castle extended its lead to 16 points at halftime.

"What happened was we turned the ball over," David said. "We're capable of beating (New Castle). There's no doubt in my mind that we could have beaten this team, but we had to keep the game close."

Senior Max Jones scored 10 of Mt. Lebanon's 13 first-half points to keep the Blue Devils in the game. Jones, who fouled out late in the fourth quarter, finished with a team-high 16 points. Chris Pinch with 14 points, and Dan Elzer with 10 joined him in double figures.

Hoover Gibson scored 14 points, and Dom Joseph added 12 for New Castle.

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