Deer Lakes uses ‘junk’ to halt Glies
Quips’ balance stifles Canevin to reach semis
Down by six points at halftime, Deer Lakes coach Albie Fletcher didn’t exactly throw the kitchen sink at Neshannock. Just some junk.
Deer Lakes threw a junk defense – triangle-and-two – at Neshannock in the second half. And when the final horn sounded, Deer Lakes was looking square at a historic moment.
Deer Lakes defeated Neshannock, 69-56, in a PIAA Class 3A quarterfinal game Saturday afternoon at North Allegheny High School. The win puts Deer Lakes into the state semifinals Tuesday for the first time in school history.
Deer Lakes (20-8) played man-to-man in the first half against Neshannock, and Neshannock’s Jack Glies kept jacking 3-pointers — and making them. Glies, a 5foot-10 senior guard, made five of nine 3-pointers in the first half and scored 21 points to help Neshannock (20-8) to a 33-27 lead. As a team, Neshannock made 53% (8 of 15) in the first two quarters and led by 25-14 twice in the second quarter.
So at halftime, Fletcher decided it was time for a defensive change and had his team play a triangle-and-two at the start of the second half. Two Deer Lakes players guarded Glies and Luciano DeLillo man-to-man while the three other players stood in a 1-2 zone. Glies was face guarded and had trouble getting the ball, let alone getting off a shot. He scored eight points in the second half, but all on free throws to finish with 29. He attempted only one shot in the final two quarters and DeLillo got only two shots.
The triangle obviously worked.
“We’ve played it a few times this year,” Fletcher said of the triangle-and-two. “Glies was the best player on the floor in the first half and we had to do something to take him away and have something behind him. My coaches made a great recommendation to use it [in the first half]. But I said let’s just get through the first half and come out with it in the second half, so they don’t have a chance to see it and prepare for it in the locker room at halftime.
“I’m a big believer in kind of waiting to hold your cards until the second half.”
Neshannock was held to 23 points in the second half and was 3 of 22 from the field, including 2 of 12 from 3-point range. Neshannock did not have a field goal in the second half and Glies was the only player to finish in double figures.
“That was an unreal, great display in the first half,” Deer Lakes’ Bryce Robson said of Glies. “We had to go back to a defense we’ve used awhile ago. It worked out well.”
While the triangle-and-two affected Neshannock’s shooting, Deer Lakes’ marksmanship in the final two quarters also was a key. Robson and Billy Schaefer both hit two 3-pointers in the third quarter and Deer Lakes went on an 11-2 run to open up a 44-35 lead on Robson’s 3-pointer with 40 seconds left in the quarter.
Robson, a senior guard, finished with 20 points and Schaefer, a junior guard, had 16. Deer Lakes had a balanced scoring attack with nine players scoring. Deer Lakes shot 66% (10 of 15) in the second half and made 15 of 19 free throws in the final quarter.
Class 2A boys
Bishop Canevin got a big game again from Shea Champine. Aliquippa, on the other hand, used a balanced attack. Balance won.
Aliquippa had four players score between 12 and 18 points as the Quips defeated Bishop Canevin, 67-56, in a PIAA quarterfinal at Peters Township.
Aliquippa (23-6) came on strong in the second half, outscoring Bishop Canevin, 40-30. Champine, who averages 29 points, scored 25 and Jason Cross added 17. But those two couldn’t offset Aliquippa’s balance. Junior gaurd DeMarcus Walker scored 18, junior forward Cam Lindsey 16, junior guard Quentine Goode 13 and senior guard D. J. Walker 12.
Bishop Canevin (22-7) played a zone defense against Aliquippa and it was effective in the first half. The Crusaders held a 14-11 lead after the first quarter and trailed by only 27-26 at halftime. The second half was a different story.
“I’ve been preaching to these guys for three years now that this is what teams are going to do. They just see us as athletes who can’t shoot, so they’ll pack in a zone and force you to beat them from the outside,” said Aliquippa coach Nick Lackovich. “It took this long for someone to do it. They did it today and it worked for them for a while.”
Aliquippa went on a 10-0 run in the third quarter to grab a 43-33 lead. Bishop Canevin cut the deficit to 5450 in the fourth quarter on a basket by Champine, but could get no closer. Aliquippa was 13 of 15 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter.