Dieruff celebrates its past
Shows its present isn’t too bad either
Three former Dieruff student-athletes who won championships at the school decades ago were inducted into the school’s athletic Hall of Fame on Saturday at Dick Schmidt Gym in between games of a girls-boys doubleheader against rival Allen.
While respectful of the past and the accomplishments of the new Hall of Fame inductees — Rocky Butler, Vivian Riddick and Scott Taylor — the current Huskies wanted to make the most of the present and set the foundation for the future.
While no titles were won Saturday, Dieruff ’s sweep of the Canaries on Linda Cruttenden Court prompted optimism for what’s ahead.
The Husky girls, fresh off an upset of perennial EPC power Nazareth, beat Allen 57-43 to reach the halfway point of the regular season at 7-4.
The Dieruff boys followed the Hall of Fame ceremony with a 60-56 triumph over the Canaries, giving them a sweep of the season series for the first time since the 2006-07 and just their third win in their last 30 meetings.
Both programs are trying to end droughts qualifying for the District 11 tournament.
With the exception of pandemic-plagued 2020-21 season, when everyone who was healthy enough was invited to participate, the Husky girls haven’t made districts since 2001, when the program finished 11-12. The last time Dieruff ’s ladies have had a winning campaign was in 1999.
Cathy Piston was in her first stint as the Huskies coach in 1999, and prior to that the last time Dieruff was a district qualifier was in 1982-83, when Piston, then known as Cathy Schulte, was a player on a 30-1 district title team.
The Husky boys haven’t reached districts since 2008 and are still just 5-6 overall this season but have the potential to win a lot of games over the season’s final month.
Typical of the ups and downs of the season, Dieruff, which beat Allen at Sewards Gym on Dec. 9, jumped out to a 9-0 lead, only to see the Canaries regroup and respond quickly to take a 14-11 lead by the end of the opening quarter and extend it to 32-21 at halftime lead.
The Huskies, though, outscored Allen 19-10 and went up by as much as 56-46 with 3 minutes, 14 seconds 3left and then hung on for the win.
“This is what rivalry looks like,” said Huskies fourth-year coach J.T. Randall. “It took a lot to get this
Dieruff boys win:
done and we knew it be. When we played them the first time, we won, but they outplayed us in a lot of ways. A couple of things went our way and we got the win, but we knew we had to be ready. We knew they were going to come out here firing. In a rivalry game, you can't count anybody out.”
Allen, which is scuffling through an uncharacteristic 2-9 season, got within 59-56 on a 3-point shot by Emmanuel Polanco with 27 seconds left. It was part of a 24-point effort by Polanco.
After a turnover, the Canaries had a chance at a tying basket but turned the ball over. Dieruff 's Buster Fallah was fouled and went to the line with four seconds left. He missed the first, but made the second and the Huskies could finally celebrate.
Fallah finished with 21 points, 11 coming in the fourth quarter. Kenyatta Moore scored 11 of his 16 after halftime.
“We had to keep our foot on the gas because we know how these rivalry games go,” Fallah said. “Allen always has something for us every time we play them. Getting to sweep Allen is big for us. Going back to the offseason we've talked about wanting to change the narrative when it comes to Dieruff basketball. We're working our way there.”
“We just have to stay together as a team, stay on the same page and stay focused on getting to districts,” said Moore, who also had a lot of rebounds for the Huskies.
Dieruff showed its resilience by continuing to battle despite a tough shooting effort in the first half when they were 1-for-7 from 3-point range and 8-for-29 overall. They were 15-for-23 from the field in the second half.
“This is the first senior group I've had, my first four-year guys since I've been here and we're trying to build something here,”
Randall said. “We're trying to build a foundation and it's going to take a lot to get there. We sat through the Hall of Fame and I've been through a lot of them over the years. We've learn how to reset. We do a lot of things with breathing exercises and meditation and I think that paid off in the second half because our kids stayed calm, stayed in the moment and didn't allow anything to get too big for them.”
Husky girls get balance: The trademarks for the Dieruff girls are scrappy defense and sharing the basketball on offense which leads to open shots and balanced scoring.
In an uptempo game throughout, the Huskies had four girls reach double figures in the scoring column led by sophomores Aniya Holder and Jayla Rosario who tallied 15 and 14 respectively. Briana McKelvy and Marisa Price chipped in 12 and 11.
Dieruff seemed in command with a 34-19 halftime lead and extended the advantage to 41-25 at one point before the Canaries scored the last eight points of the third quarter to make it interesting.
However, a 10-3 run by Dieruff
put it away.
“Nothing is ever going to go the way you intend it to but when had some tough patches today we played through it,” Holder said. “They got on a run and we had to make sure we cut it short. Sometimes a team going on a run can get the best of us, but today we kept our intensity and stayed in it.”
Holder said the team has a lot of talent and just needs to keep working hard.
“We're off to a really good start, and we just have to keep pushing,” Holder said.
Piston said the teamwork has been special.
“They like to share the ball and they trust one another,” she said. “They're good friends on and off the court. When you trust one another good things happen. They look to make one more pass. They're not selfish. There's not a selfish person on the team.”
While this has the potential to be a special season, Piston said she's not looking past Bethlehem Catholic, another perennial EPC power, on Monday.
“That's a game in our division and a tough game in our division,” Piston said. “This was a nice win, but we have a long way to go.”