Shady Side Academy gets big lift from big men to defeat Deer Lakes, share section title

By: Josh Rizzo
Friday, February 10, 2023 | 10:20 PM

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Shady Side Academy’s 6-foot-4 forward Nate Mallory wants to avoid hearing the same phrase over and over again. With a chance to earn a share of the Section 3-3A boys basketball title against Deer Lakes on Friday night at Mellon Gymnasium, Mallory and fellow 6-4 big man Ben Michaels lived up to the mantra.

“Coach is always grilling me,” said Mallory, who finished with 10 points, 14 rebounds and four blocks. “Box out, box out, box out.”

The Bulldogs’ bigs delivered, spoiling what would have been an outright section crown for Deer Lakes. Shady Side Academy earned a 62-54 win to avenge a two-point loss to the Lancers early in the season. Despite the loss, Deer Lakes will earn a piece of the section for the first time since the 2018-19 season.

Mallory (14) and Michaels (eight) combined for 22 rebounds to make life difficult for the Lancers.

“Both of them have gotten so much better, and we’ve gone to two bigs a lot more,” Bulldogs coach Dave Vadnais said. “Against Derry, he was allowing himself to be boxed out. I said, ‘You can’t allow yourself to be boxed out.’ One of my assistants was more blunt than that, and it changed. Even though we lost, he dominated the glass.”

Deer Lakes led 30-29 at halftime after a Bryce Robson basket with 5 seconds left in the half. However, Shady Side Academy surged ahead at the start of the second half.

The Bulldogs (15-5, 10-2) opened with a 7-2 run that stretched their lead to six points. Shady Side Academy eventually led by as many as 12 points.

The Bulldogs also benefited from a standout performance from Seamus Riordan, who finished with a game-high 26 points.

Deer Lakes coach Albie Fletcher knew the Lancers needed to pound the boards.

“They won the battle inside,” Fletcher said. “The first game, stat-wise, it was even, but we won the rebounding battle. They had 14 second-chance points, and we had zero. They kicked our butt inside.”

Mallory has spent his season concerned with being in the right position to limit second-chance opportunities for opponents. He has a self-professed bad habit of attempting to rely too much on his jumping ability to chase rebounds.

“I have a bad habit of jumping. Coach tells me if I take the man away from the hoop that’s good,” Mallory said. “As a team, we made sure we boxed out and got rebounds.”

Neither team seem destined to earn much separation early. Both held leads in a back-and-forth first half. The first quarter alone saw seven lead changes and Deer Lakes (13-8, 10-2) surge out to a five-point lead.

The Lancers’ biggest lead of the game, 16-11, came after a 3-pointer from Collin Rodgers. Rodgers finished with 12 points for Deer Lakes. The Lancers shot 42.8% (9 of 21) from the 3-point line but were suffocated by Shady Side Academy’s defense after the half.

Deer Lakes was limited to 24 points after the break.

The Lancers made one final run at the game after falling behind by 12. Robson, who scored a team-high 20 points, made a 3-pointer and converted a steal into a layup with around 3:30 remaining. Two free throws from Wayne Love would cut the score to 52-47. However, Deer Lakes couldn’t create enough possessions to keep up with the Bulldogs.

Fletcher is happy that, when the WPIAL playoff brackets come out Monday, it will be another opportunity for his team to quickly wash away this defeat. Fletcher said ending the season playing for the section title against Shady Side Academy was a good challenge.

“When the brackets come out, everyone is 0-0 again,” Fletcher said. “This was a playoff game for us. On the road, big crowd, this was a good opportunity. We played a hard schedule and challenged ourselves all year. It’s a tough loss. We have a week to recover from this.”

Tags: Deer Lakes, Shady Side Academy