Deer Lakes boys rebound for victory against Knoch

By: Michael Love
Friday, January 21, 2022 | 10:05 PM

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The Deer Lakes boys basketball team was looking for a bounce back from Tuesday’s loss to Section 1-4A leader North Catholic as it hosted section rival Knoch on Friday.

Mission accomplished.

Led by 21 points from both Bryce Robson and Armend Karpuzi, the Lancers turned back the charge of the Knights, 63-47.

“We watched a lot of film, getting to know (Knoch), and we realized what we needed to correct from the North Catholic game,” Karpuzi said. “We had a lot of energy through practice, and it paid off for us.”

Deer Lakes (10-3 overall) improved to 5-2 in section play. It returns to action Tuesday at home against Freeport.

The Lancers led 24-19 at halftime and scored 39 points in the second half to pull away for a15-point triumph.

“We didn’t start the game as fast as we would’ve liked, but luckily we were able to pick it up in the second half,” Robson said.

“We kept up the defensive pressure and were able to get some key turnovers, which we turned into points. Between points, rebounds, getting steals, playing defense, it was a total team effort.”

In addition to Robson and Karpuzi’s strong games, Lucas Tiglio hit a pair of 3-pointers and finished with 10 points. As a team, Deer Lakes made 10 treys.

“The response from a loss is always huge,” Deer Lakes coach Terrence Parham said. “The loss to North Catholic stung, but they turned it into some good practices. The focus was there.

“The guys know that every team is going to scrap for wins, especially those in the bottom half of the standings who know they have to basically win out to get one of those playoff spots. It was a big game for Knoch, and they showed that effort.”

The loss was the Knights’ fourth in a row after winning three of four. Knoch is 4-10 overall and 1-6 in the section.

Knoch leading scorer Ryan Lang scored 14 points, but he was limited to five in the second half.

Ziaran Finucan added 11 points, all of which came in the second half.

Deer Lakes used a 10-2 run to close out the third quarter and take a 44-32 lead to the final eight minutes of regulation.

Finucan scored Knoch’s first eight points of the fourth as the Knights trimmed the lead to 48-40.

But that was as close as they would get.

Deer Lakes forced Knoch to turn the ball over on three straight possessions, and the Lancers turned those giveaways into seven points for a 55-40 advantage. The last three of the quick run came on a 3-pointer from Robson with 2:10 left.

“We really pride ourselves on defense, and the guys bought in to what they needed to do and sold out to put the game away,” Parham said.

Led by five points from Lang and four from Keagan Fraser, Knoch led 15-11 late in the first quarter.

But Deer Lakes turned the tables on the Knights and used an 8-0 run that was punctuated by a 3-pointer from Karpuzi for a 19-15 lead with 5:42 left until halftime.

After not committing a turnover in the first quarter, Knoch turned it over six times in the second.

At first, Deer Lakes struggled to take advantage of the extra possessions, but a 3-pointer from Tiglio gave the Lancers some breathing room at 24-17 with 20 seconds to go until the break.

Lang answered with a putback at the halftime buzzer to cut the Knights deficit to five as the teams headed to halftime.

“We talked about just coming in here and battling and playing with great effort,” Knoch coach Alan Bauman said.

“I thought we did that. You can’t make mistakes against a team like Deer Lakes, especially when they got in a rhythm and found their shooting touch in the second half. I thought our defensive effort in the first half was outstanding. We were still there in the fourth quarter, and that’s who we’ve been all year. To be able to continue to battle like that, we’ll take it.”

Bauman hopes Friday’s effort carries over to Saturday as Knoch takes on New Castle at the Ron Galbreath Classic at 6:30 p.m. at Westminster.

The Knights then will visit Burrell on Tuesday in a return to section play.

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Deer Lakes, Knoch