Deer Lakes beats Brookville for 1st PIAA win in team history

By: George Guido
Saturday, March 9, 2019 | 9:10 PM

CLEARFIELD — In a season of milestones, Deer Lakes attained another Saturday night.

But it wasn’t easy.

The Lancers failed to hold an eight-point lead late in the fourth quarter but pulled out a 56-52 overtime victory against Brookville.

The PIAA Class 3A first-round victory was the first state playoff win in team history.

All nine overtime points came from the free-throw line.

Deer Lakes was in the driver’s seat, leading 43-35 with 3 minutes, 44 seconds left in the fourth quarter. The Lancers maintained a slim lead down the stretch until a bizarre set of sequences took place with 1:07 to go and Deer Lakes up 45-42.

The Lancers had the ball when a referee blew his whistle to give a warning to Raiders coach Dalton Park.

Under a new rule this year, an official can give a coach a warning and not issue a technical foul.

The Lancers bench was livid that play was stopped. When the official asked for the ball, Deer Lakes forward Colin Kadlick fired the ball to the official and was charged with a technical.

Aaron Park hit the technical free throws, and David Cable hit a 3-pointer to give Brookville its first lead of the game, 47-45, with 49 seconds left.

Zac Herbinko’s basket tied the score at 47-47. Park then drove for the hoop and hit an apparent winning basket with 1.2 seconds to go, but Park was called for a foul and the game went into overtime.

Senior Brad Perrotte hit 5 of 6 free throws in the extra session and Aris Hasley added two more including one with 7.4 left in overtime to secure the victory.

Deer Lakes (17-7) will play Forest Hills in the second round Wednesday at a site and time to be determined. Brookville, which came in with a five-game winning streak, ended its season at 16-9. The Raiders are 1-18 in PIAA playoff games.

“Ultimately, we wanted to have one more point than they did, and our guys found a way,” Lancers coach Terence Parham said. “They made the plays to get it into overtime, but we found a way to make enough plays in overtime.”

“I felt, honestly, I was standing at the baseline and I watched the kid drive on that last shot,” said Raiders coach Dalton Park. “I don’t know how he gets a charge with the kid sideways moving toward him. So I feel we ended it right there. I don’t understand one bit how you make that call at the end of a game.”

Perrotte finished the game with 22 points, 12 of 14 from the free-throw line.

“Our gameplan was to attack their big men and take advantage of the speed we have,” Perrotte said. “We’re a gritty team, and we pride ourselves on that.”

Jack Hollibaugh had 13 before fouling out with 1:22 left in regulation. Herbinko added 10, and Kadlick had 11 rebounds.

Brookville had a chance to tie it with 10.9 seconds left in overtime and the ball to the left of its hoop.

Cable got open from the left corner but missed, and Hasley gathered the rebound.

“We called a timeout and those son-of-a-guns came out with something we had never seen,” Parham said. “We gambled, and they still got a decent look.”

“The screen was for Cable to come to the corner, it was designed for him to get a shot,” coach Park said. “They earned themselves a win by constantly having all five guys play together.”

Aaron Park had 18 to lead the Raiders and guard Jace Miner had 13 before fouling out in the overtime.

Tags: Deer Lakes