Deer Lakes is hottest team in its class

By: Don Rebel
Tuesday, March 1, 2022 | 12:32 PM

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Outside of Quaker Valley and Montour, the top two seeds in the WPIAL Class 4A boys basketball playoffs, the hottest team in the classification coming into the postseason was Section 1 third-place finisher Deer Lakes.

The Lancers disposed of Section 1-4A champ North Catholic and Section 3-3A co-champ Shady Side Academy among their late-season victims.

However, when the brackets came out, Deer Lakes was a No. 8 seed.

“Every coach who doesn’t get the No. 1 seed wishes they got a better seed, but I knew with four section losses, it would be tough to get a 6 or 7 seed,” Deer Lakes coach Terrence Parham said. “It is what is.”

Following three straight section wins, Deer Lakes began last week against Shady Side Academy.

It was an emotional regular season finale for Parham.

“With me attending and once coaching there, our game has become a good rivalry and I knew both teams would be ready to compete,” Parham said. “Shady Side has a strong young group of players, and they gave us everything they had.”

On Friday, Deer Lakes hosted the fourth-place team out of a strong Section 2 in Blackhawk.

“I knew Blackhawk had pretty much seen everything coming out of that section,” Parham said. “The real concern was rebounding. They are a blue-collar bunch of kids who played hard and definitely made it tough for us in terms of limited second-chance points, but we were able to get a stop or two when we need it.”

Getting stops wasn’t the problem for the Lancers in the first half against the Cougars, it was scoring. Deer Lakes went to the locker room trialing, 18-13.

“At halftime, it was really just about keeping our guys confident because we were struggling to make open looks that usually go down for us, especially at home,” Parham said. “I give our guys credit for coming out with enough confidence to believe that we would somehow get it done.”

Blackhawk held a 37-36 lead with the clock winding down when senior Justin Brannagan nailed an open 3-pointer from the corner for a dramatic 39-37 Lancers’ victory.

“He’s a gamer,” Parham said of Brannagan. “On top of that, he’s our best corner shooter. I thought Armend would draw attention by driving and if Justin could get his feet set, we got a chance. The kid came through in a way that will never be forgotten when it comes Deer Lakes basketball history.”

Lancers senior Armend Karpuzzi had a monster game, scoring 24 of his team’s 39 points.

“To be honest, I had no idea he that many points because we struggled so mightily during the game,” Parham said.

“He’s been finding a way all season long to make plays when we need them. If anything, we as a staff would like him to be even more aggressive at times because he sometimes forgets what type of matchup problems he can create.”

Up next for Deer Lakes (16-5) is a team with a dynamic duo that has created matchup problem for everybody all season.

The Lancers go swimming in the Section 2 waters again against the biggest 4A fish of them all, top-seed and undefeated Quaker Valley at 7 p.m. in Leetsdale.

“The first I thought was Duke vs. UNLV, I can’t remember the year, but it was when Duke found a way to beat UNLV after getting blown out the previous season in the Final Four,” Parham said.

“You can’t expect to make a run without having to take out not just the best teams in the WPIAL, but some of the best teams in the state. In our case, we have to find a way to beat the No. 1 team in the state. I’d rather be game planning than paying admission for this one.”

Tags: Deer Lakes