PHILIPSBURG — When Cole Curtis grabbed the rebound from the missed free throw and fed the ball to Robbie Smith in the final seconds, Smith was overflowing with confidence.

“As soon as he missed it I thought, ‘We’ve got this game in the bag,’” the Philipsburg-Osceola senior guard said.

Smith raced down the court, drew a foul with 1.7 seconds left and made both of his attempts from the foul line to give the Mounties a 35-34 win over Penns Valley on Friday night.

Smith finished with 11 points while Eric Nartatez and Taylor Golemboski netted eight points each. Curtis and Golemboski grabbed seven and six rebounds, respectively, for the Mounties (4-13), who broke a three-game losing streak.

Austin Auman’s 13 points and Sam Snyder’s nine points paced the Rams (6-7), who have lost four of their last five.

Curtis had just brought P-O to within one point with a layup, snaring an inbounds pass and streaking down the lane for the bucket with 11.2 seconds left.

Following a timeout, the Rams quickly had the ball down court, with Snyder drawing a foul in a one-and-bonus situation with 6.9 seconds left. His first attempt bounced off the rim, with Curtis in position for the rebound to start the deciding play.

“They did what they needed to do to get themselves into position where they could possibly get the ball at the end,” Rams coach Terry Glunt said. “In a nutshell, we didn’t make the free throws. That allowed them to go coast-to-coast and in seven seconds that’s not real hard.”

Curtis fired the ball to Smith, who raced up the court, driving into the lane to find a trio of Rams.

“I was just taking it to the basket trying to get a foul,” Smith said. “I knew we were almost in the bonus. They had six fouls, so if they fouled us it would be one-and- one. ... There were three guys in front of me so I just drove right to the middle of them. I knew they would be hacking and swinging.”

After Curtis had grabbed the rebound, McKnight decided to let the boys play instead of trying to set up something.

“I’ve done both,” McKnight said. “The kids have a feel for the game at that point. I just think it’s better — if you’re in trouble or you’re not in sync, then go ahead. But we took the ball and went boom, boom, boom right up the court and I thought, ‘Let them go.’”

Because of the quick transition, the Rams’ normally stiffling defense was a little flat-footed.

“We weren’t set up in our half-court defense,” Glunt said. “The kid got it in an advantageous position and just took it. I was hoping our kid would take a charge instead of fouling, but they reached and they called the foul.”

Despite not being a primary scorer for the Mounties, Smith had plenty of confidence as he walked to the line.

“I really wasn’t that nervous,” he said. “We shoot foul shots all the time in practice. It’s pretty much muscle memory.”

The Rams tried to set up one final desperation play, but Snyder’s near-hook shot from midcourt was short of the rim.

P-O led by as many as eight points in the first half — the Rams went better than eight minutes without a field goal — but the Mounties didn’t score over the final six minutes of the half and Penns Valley had the margin at 18-16 by the break.

P-O again scored quickly to start the third quarter on back-to-back Smith buckets, but the Mounties would again be shut down as the Rams reeled off the next 12 points, capped by an Auman 3-pointer at the third-quarter buzzer.

“We tried to find some things to work for us,” Glunt said. “We were a little more aggressive taking the ball to the hole. We were turning the ball over in the first half and weren’t strong with our opportunities in the paint.”

“We lost our focus big time in the third quarter,” McKnight said. “They did that, but we were only down six at the end of the quarter.”

A Luke Weaver put-back gave the Rams a 28-22 lead early in the fourth before the Mounties began whittling away. Smith and Golemboski each had 3-pointers to bring the margin back to two points.

“(Penns Valley) was playing a sound, fundamental game,” McKnight said. “We were lucky. It’s better to be lucky than good — I don’t know. Maybe the sports gods have smiled down upon us tonight. We’ve had some tough luck.”

Following a Nartatez free throw, Dalton Ulmanic was open at the back door for a layup and a 34-31 lead with 19 seconds left to set up the final sequence.

“I can never fault their effort,” McKnight said. “There’s no quit in these boys.”