A-K Valley PIAA basketball playoff preview capsules for March 6, 2026

By: Bill Hartlep
Thursday, March 5, 2026 | 4:49 PM

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PIAA basketball playoffs

Boys

Class 4A

First round

Deer Lakes (12-14) at Huntingdon (15-9)

7 p.m. Friday

District/place: Deer Lakes, 7-4; Huntingdon, 6-1

Winner plays: Winner of 7-2 Quaker Valley (20-4)/10-3 Hickory (20-6) in second round Tuesday (time, site TBD)

Players to watch: Evan Moore, Deer Lakes; Elliott Guisler, Huntingdon

Layup lines: Deer Lakes finished fourth in the WPIAL playoffs after a semifinal loss to top-seeded Quaker Valley and a 70-66 defeat to North Catholic in the third-place consolation. Evan Moore had 23 points, Dylan Ferraro added 16 and Collin Rodgers scored 15 against the section-rival Trojans. The Lancers are in the PIAA tournament for the third time in four seasons. In 2023, Deer Lakes reached the PIAA Class 3A quarterfinals before falling to District 10 runner-up Franklin. The Lancers were the 2022 PIAA runners-up to West Catholic. … Huntingdon is led by senior guard Elliott Guisler, who averages 14.9 points per game; as well as senior center Caleb Rutter (10.7 ppg, and 8.1 rpg) and Kobe Carthen (9.9 ppg). Guisler and Carthen had 20 points each as Huntindgon defeated Central (Martinsburg), 48-46, in the District 6 championship game at Mount Aloysius. Huntingdon is located about a two-and-a-half hour drive from West Deer just past Altoona.

Girard (18-8) at Knoch (22-4)

7 p.m. Friday

District/place: Girard, 10-5; Knoch, 7-1

Winner plays: Winner of 10-2 Sharon (19-6)/7-3 North Catholic (19-6) in second round Tuesday (time, site TBD)

Players to watch: Kenny Godoy, Girard; Liam Avon, Knoch

Layup lines: Girard is coming off a 70-66 overtime win over Harbor Creek in the District 10 fifth-place game to earn a berth to the PIAA tournament. Kenny Godoy scored 38 points to secure the win. Godoy scored 51 points last month in a win over North East. He has scored more than 1,600 career points. … Knoch is riding high after defeating Quaker Valley to win its first WPIAL championship. Roman DeFelice scored 13 points, Liam Avon had 12 points and Derek Lang added 10 points. Teegan Finucan and Vince DeFelice also played the entire game for Knoch. Last season, Knoch lost to District 10 champion Cathedral Prep, 70-57, in the PIAA first round. The Knights are 3-10 all-time in the PIAA playoffs.

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, Knoch