It was senior night at Moeller, so three pregame standing ovations weren’t something out of the ordinary. What was unexpected on Friday night was that two of those were for Joe Petrocelli, the longtime Alter coach who was on the sidelines for the final regular season game of his nearly 50-year career.

Petrocelli, who didn’t want a farewell tour, got emotional as he acknowledged the crowd. Among the Moeller and Alter faithful were plenty of Petrocelli supports, including family, friends, former players and managers, and classmates from his Purcell Marian class of 1956.

The affection in the building was powerful, but it didn’t linger past the tip-off.

Right from the start it was clear this was going to be the kind of Greater Catholic League game that Petrocelli has seen plenty of over his years — a physical and unforgiving battle. Though it was tight at the half, the Crusaders (20-2) pulled away from the Knights (16-5) in the third quarter for a 58-44 victory.

“This is definitely the most physical game we’ve had all year,” Alter senior guard Jaaron Simmons said. “They’ve got a lot of size and you can tell a lot of them played football and they’ve been in the weight room.”

Moeller ripped off nine straight points to start the game, holding Alter off the scoreboard for nearly half of the first quarter. That’s when Simmons put the Knights on his back and got them going. He rattled off five quick points, found fellow senior Michael Spencer for a 3-pointer, and before the quarter was finished he had Alter back in the game.

In the second quarter the Knights’ 2-3 zone defense made opportunities much harder to come by for the Crusaders. Alter turned its defense into points and by the end of the first half only trailed 30-29 despite the slow start. Simmons played a starring role in the comeback with 15 first-half points.

Coming out of the halftime break, the Knights took their first lead when sophomore Mike Schwieterman threw up a lob for Simmons, who caught it in traffic near the rim and put it in off the backboard. Schwieterman then nailed a 3 and Spencer added a jumper to give Alter a 36-31 lead.

Things only got worse for the Knights after that. Moeller held them off the scoreboard for the rest of the third quarter and on the other end went on an 18-0 run that extended over two minutes into the fourth quarter.

“Basketball is a game of runs,” said Simmons, who finished with 23 points. “They got on a run and we just couldn’t get over the hump and get back in the game.”

Moeller’s run was keyed by senior Josh Davenport and junior Grant Benzinger, who gave Alter headaches all night. Davenport finished with 18 points, with most coming on drives into the paint, while Benzinger (son of former Cincinnati Reds player Todd Benzinger), lit it up from outside with 17 points and three trifectas.

Though the result wasn’t what the Knights were hoping for, they’ll have time to regroup before the playoffs. Petrocelli purposely selected a bye in the playoff bracket, so Alter won’t play again until Tuesday at Trent Arena.

When looking ahead to the playoffs, Simmons believes that there are lessons that Alter can take from the loss.

“This teaches us we’ve got to be stronger, we’ve got to be smarter with the ball, we’ve all got to be able to handle the ball, and we’ve just got to play hard,” he said.