A-K Valley PIAA basketball playoff capsule: Games for Saturday, March 18, 2023

By: Bill Hartlep
Friday, March 17, 2023 | 3:33 PM

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PIAA basketball playoffs

Boys

Class 3A

Deer Lakes (19-8) vs. Neshannock (20-7)

Noon Saturday, North Allegheny Senior High School, McCandless

District-place: Deer Lakes 7-1; Neshannock 7-4

Winner plays: Winner of 6-1 Penn Cambria (23-5)/10-1 Franklin (23-4) Tuesday in PIAA semifinals (time, site TBD)

Players to watch: Bryce Robson, Deer Lakes; Jack Glies, Neshannock

Layup lines: WPIAL champion Deer Lakes is coming off a 67-59 win over Loyalsock Township in the second round. Robson scored 18 points, and Nate Litrun and Collin Rodgers each had 10. The Lancers have outscored opponents 403-318 in the postseason. If Deer Lakes wins, it will be the first time boys teams from the A-K Valley have made the PIAA semifinals in back-to-back seasons. Fox Chapel made it last year after beating Northampton in the quarterfinals. The only time, overall, that A-K Valley teams made back-to-back state semifinals appearances was the Deer Lakes girls in 1985 (beat Bishop Guilfoyle) and the Kiski Area boys in 1986 (beat Meadville). … Giles had a team-high 12 points as Neshannock beat Brookville, 44-40, in the PIAA second round. David Dwiat added nine points. Neshannock tied for the Section 1 title with Mohawk at 10-2. The Lancers lost to OLSH in the WPIAL semifinals and Steel Valley in the third-place game. They beat Oil City, 61-59, in the PIAA first round.

Bill Hartlep is the TribLive sports editor. A Pittsburgh native and Point Park graduate, he joined the Trib in 2004, covering high school sports. He held various editing roles before assuming his current position in 2019. He can be reached at bhartlep@triblive.com.

Tags: Deer Lakes, Neshannock