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Lewistown is at Central Wednesday.

LEWISTOWN - Speed kills.

The Lewistown boys basketball team found out the hard way how true that cliche is Wednesday night in the final of the Panther Club Holiday Classic.

Octorara used its speed and athleticism to force the Panthers into 20 turnovers and poor shot selection most of the night, on its way to the 63-40 victory and the tournament championship.

"We knew going into the game that their quickness and athleticism could pose problems for us if we didn't, one, convert defensively and two, take care of the ball," said Lewistown coach Aaron Gingrich. "Tonight you saw their defensive pressure took us out of any offensive sets we wanted to run, which in turn, forced bad passes and shots. And that led to transition baskets for them."

The Braves (6-1) jumped out to a quick 8-0 run to start the game and never looked back. A jumper by Moses Togbah and a three-point play by tourney MVP Lamont Clark got things going for the visitors.

Lewistown helped fuel the early Octorara run with four straight turnovers and by the time the buzzer sounded to end the period, the Braves had a 14-4 advantage. Clark led the way with eight of his 12 points in the quarter.

"We're pretty fast and we knew coming in that we could neutralize their size," said Octorara coach Gene Lambert, who defeated the Panthers for the first time in five meetings. "They have some size. They have some strong kids over there, but we're pretty fast and we outlet the ball well.

"My guards are stronger than they've ever been and that's huge. We wanted to keep the pressure on them and make some shots and we did tonight."

Both teams made plenty of mistakes in the second quarter and couldn't find any rhythm as the half ended with the Braves up 24-13.

The second half belonged to Octorara sophomore guard Pat Evans.

Evans scored 15 of his game-high 18 points in the second half, including 10 in the fourth quarter. He ended the game 4-of-6 from 3-point range.

Octorara ended the third with a 13-6 run with Ian Agpar and Togbah combining for 10 points. Togbah finished the game with 15 points as the Braves took a 44-28 lead after three.

"We're 6-1 right now and we're coming together. We beat a couple good teams here and winning this tournament is huge for us," Lambert said. "This is our first time winning it in six tries. We knew we had something with this crew coming into the summer. We've made some strides. We're very excited."

Octorara opened the fourth quarter the same way it began the game - forcing turnovers and making transition baskets. An 8-2 run by the Braves made it 52-30 and the benches started clearing.

Nick Pupo and A.J. Scheffel combined for 10 of Lewistown's 12 points in the quarter, but it wasn't enough to close the gap, thanks to Evans' strong performance.

Pupo was the only Panther to score in double digits with 10. Doug Randall, who left the game after an elbow to the head split him open in the third quarter, finished with eight points.

"As coaches we were a little disappointed with our enthusiasm and effort at points in the game, but if you don't test yourself against good teams, especially early in the season, then you may have a false sense of how good you really are," Gingrich said. "We're 4-2 and it's not even the New Year yet, so all is not lost. But we have to rewrite the problems we had against an athletic and quick team like Octorara."

The all-tournament team consisted of Togbah and Evans, Pupo, Stevie Eisenhuth of Bald Eagle Area and Dylan Klingensmith of Kittanning. Randall was the winner of the sportsmanship award. Kittanning won the consolation game over BEA, 67-65.

"Some kids gave good production and good energy," Gingrich said. "I thought Nick Pupo deserved his all-tourney team. Doug Randall played hard before he got cut open. We have to look to get better and sometimes a loss can show you were your deficiencies are. We're going to come to practice tomorrow, get back to work, and get better."

Lewistown travels to Central on Jan. 8.