HOLLIDAYSBURG – Chartiers Valley will have to wait another year for a chance to win its first PIAA boys basketball title.

West York, the District 3 champions, got a free throw from 6-foot-5 junior Brecklin Lasher with 5.1 seconds left to defeat the Colts, 45-44, in the Class 5A semifinals Tuesday night. The game was moved to Hollidaysburg from Altoona after Monday’s game was postponed because of weather.

It is West York’s first trip to Hershey, where it will play Bonner-Prendergast for the state title at 8 p.m. Friday.

The Bulldogs defeated four WPIAL teams (Ringgold, Penn Hills, Moon and Chartiers Valley) to get to the finals.

The last time Chartiers Valley made it to the finals was in 2010 when the game was played at Penn State.

Chartiers Valley (26-3) was unable to get a shot off on its final possession.

Colts coach Corey Dotchin said he was disappointed with the call that put Lasher on the foul line, and then the non-call on his player trying to advance the ball upcourt.

“I thought it was a good block or a jump ball,” Dotchin said. “You cannot make that call at that time of the game.”

Lasher was unstoppable in the second half, scoring 19 points, including 13 in the third quarter when West York opened up a 39-30 lead.

“It was heavyweight battle,” West York coach Garrett Bull said. “They put pressure on our guys, and they just stood there. They hit a couple 3s, and they had the lead.”

Chartiers Valley, the WPIAL champion, began the fourth quarter on an 11-1 run to grab a 41-40 lead on a 3-pointer by Luca Federico with 5:33 left.

The Colts also got 3-pointers from Danny Slizik and Julian Semplice and had West York scrambling.

Once they got the lead, the Colts slowed things down and took their pressure off the Bulldogs.

“I was not surprised they slowed things down,” Bull said. “We have seen that before from them.”

Chartiers Valley then missed a 3-pointer from the corner and a free throw from Lasher tied the score. Then a 3-pointer by Jaeydn Kohler gave West York a 44-41 lead with 2:35 left.

“We were looking for a good shot,” Dotchin said. “We got a good look, but the ball did not fall.”

Chartiers Valley tied the score at 44-44 on a 3-pointer by Semplice with 2:19 left.

Semplice finished with 15 points. Federico added 13 and Julius Best came off the bench to score 11.

West York missed a shot with two minutes left and Semplice was called on a questionable charge with 1:30 to go.

West York called timeout and set up for the potential winning shot.

“We were going to try our backdoor play, but the called it out,” Bull said. “But it put Brecklin in a good position to make a move and get fouled.”

Conrad Beatty finished with 13 points but sat most of the second half in foul trouble.