Sullivan County presented its case as being one of District 4’s top two Class A teams Saturday afternoon.

And the defense never rested.

Sullivan produced a defensive clinic at Montoursville, allowing just five field goals while blitzing North Penn-Liberty, 46-16 in the Class A semifinals. Riley King scored 20 points, Trey Higley (10 points, 12 rebounds) produced a double-double and every Griffin relentlessly competed as Sullivan (16-8) earned a spot in its first championship since 2014.

The Griffins will play Northumberland Christian in the finals and clinched an 11th state tournament appearance in 14 seasons. North Penn-Liberty (13-11) will play for the district’s final state playoff berth against Galeton in the third-place game.

“It feels amazing,” King said. “All the hard work we put in during the summer and throughout the season is paying off and we keep getting better and better as a team, and now we’re here.”

Sullivan has built a super winning tradition upon stifling defense, so it seemed fitting that on a day several alumni from past district finalists were there cheering them on the Griffins returned to the finals riding that defense. They forced nearly as many turnovers (18) as shots allowed (22) and locked down all-state candidate Derek Litzelman after he had torched Lourdes for 39 points in a thrilling quarterfinal win.

The Griffins did not allow their first point until 30 seconds into the second quarter, their first field goal until nearly 10 minutes in and led 20-5 at halftime. Defense set the tone, the offense heated up late in the first half and the Griffins put everything together while winning for the eighth time in nine games.

“I don’t know if we were really good defensively early in the year, but the guys have really bought into getting better on that end of the floor and we’ve also had some tweaks,” Sullivan coach Glenn Vaughan said. “The team was really confident in the game plan, and I couldn’t ask for more.”

“I feel like everyone puts in a lot of effort and we’re always picking each other up even if something bad happens,” Higley said. “That confidence throughout our team is doing good things for our whole team, and I think that’s a big reason we’re still here.”

Litzelman scored a team-high 10 points, but King, Ben Carpenter, Landon Baldwin and Tucker Blasi took turns swarming the three-year starter who entered averaging nearly 20 points per game. All four have different defensive styles and all were effective as Litzelman rarely could get shots up throughout the first half and was limited to one point during that time despite competing hard all afternoon.

Sullivan did its best to cut the head off the North Penn-Liberty body and doing so squeezed the life from the Mountie offense. They communicated, helped, flustered and surrendered just three field goals during the first three quarters. Sullivan imposed the mercy rule early in the fourth quarter as it avenged last year’s quarterfinal loss and denied North Penn-Liberty a third straight finals appearance.

“It’s the attention to detail. We really stress boards and locking people up,” King said. “We knew Litzelman was their guy, so we tried to shut him down as much as we could and make sure everyone else also had a hard time doing what they wanted to do.”

“When you’re playing a kid that good, it’s hard to simulate that in practice, but the help was there,” Vaughan said. “He’s their guy and I thought our guys did a really good job buying into the overall game plan and really played tough defensively. I certainly didn’t think we were going to hold them to 16 points, but I’m proud of my team for doing that.”

The Sullivan offense was slow to burn for the game’s first 12 minutes, but the defense fanning the flames eventually fueled Sullivan on both ends. The Griffins closed the half on a quick 9-0 flurry to put North Penn-Liberty on the ropes by halftime before landing a prime Mike Tyson knockout in the third quarter. Sullivan scored 19 points that quarter and went up 43-11 less than two minutes into the fourth.

On this balanced team, everyone is a weapon and King took center stage Saturday, scoring 18 of his 20 points in the middle quarters. All five starters made at least two steals and Blasi, Baldwin and Derrick Finnegan shined off the bench.

Sullivan also dominated the boards against a taller team. When shots were missed, there often was a hustling Griffin there to grab an offensive rebound and extend the possession. Higley had a double-double before the third quarter concluded, King pulled down seven rebounds and Finnegan added four off the bench.

“We were really hyped going into the second half,” King said. “We knew we had the game and we just had to finish and execute and keep boxing out and keep Litzelman off the glass.”

“You know they’re going to play 2-3 or 3-2 zone and you work on your zone offense, but you can’t simulate the way they play and they’re physical, tough kids who play really hard,” Vaughan said. “We had trouble and we wanted to play fast but they really slowed us down in first quarter. We were defending the whole time and rebounding and finally we got loose and attacked the rim a little bit and hit some shots.”

Northumberland Christian defeated Sullivan earlier this season but the Griffins are hoping they keep showing how much they have progressed since that game. The work continues and has led to quite an opportunity.

“I’m ready,” King said. “I’ve been looking forward to this all season.”

NPL (16)

Derek Litzelman 3 1-3 10, Daniel Sherant 1 2-2 4, Jackson Brion 0 0-1 0, Bryce Boyer 0 0-1 0, Glenn Oakley 0 0-2 0, Adynn Wheeland 1 0-0 2. Totals 5 3-9 16.

SULLIVAN (46)

Riley King 7 4-5 20, Ben Carpenter 2 3-4 7, Trey Higley 4 2-3 10, Maddox Bahr 0 3-4 3, Derrick Finnegan 1 0-0 3, Landon Baldwin 0 0-0 0, Conner Smithkors 0 0-0 0, Tucker Blasi 1 0-0 2. 15 12-18 46.

NPL 0 5 6 5–16

Sullivan 7 13 19 7–46

3-pointers: NP-Liberty 3 (Litzelman 3); Sullivan 3 (King 2, Finnegan).

Records: Sullivan 16-8. North Penn-Liberty 13-11.