Second-half surge pushes South Fayette past Chartiers Valley

By: Don Rebel
Tuesday, February 1, 2022 | 11:35 PM

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For two quarters, the South Fayette boys basketball team was limited to 26 points and trailed by double digits by halftime at Chartiers Valley.

However, in the second half, the Lions cranked up the aggressiveness on offense and came back to beat the Colts, 79-72, on Tuesday.

“When you have seniors with some toughness, stuff like that happens,” South Fayette coach Dave Mislan said. “I could see the look that at halftime, they weren’t down. Their body language was good. The chemistry, the team concept, they felt good about it, and I told them, ‘This is your game.’”

The Lions exploded for 31 points in the third quarter and added 22 more in the fourth as they forced a split of the regular season series with the Colts. The result also leaves both teams with 5-2 records in Section 2-5A, tied for second place behind defending champion New Castle.

The first half belonged to host Chartiers Valley, as the Colts raced out to a five-point lead after one and led most of the second quarter by double-digit points, going to the locker room up 37-26.

South Fayette scored the first seven points of the third quarter as the Lions got away from their patient half-court offense and took the ball to the basket, looking to score in transition with senior Brandon Jakiela leading the way.

“We were scoring at the rim,” Mislan said. “Brandon is a basketball junkie. He was our leading scorer his sophomore year, then had some ailments and was injured his junior season. The way he’s been playing these last few weeks is just off the charts.”

Jakiela scored 18 of his team-high 26 points in the second half.

Another senior played a big role off the Lions bench. Alex Hall scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half and had a strong game on the glass as well for South Fayette.

“Alex is such a success story because when he was in seventh grade, he was a guard,” Mislan said. “Then he hit a growth spurt and went from 5-11 to 6-3. I pulled him aside last year and told him to look around, we have a lot of guards, we don’t have a whole lot of beef. He’s embraced it.”

A turning point in the game came with less than three minutes left in the third quarter with Chartiers Valley leading 53-48. Freshman guard Jayden Davis was called for a technical foul and was taken out of the game and benched until the 2:37 mark of the fourth quarter with the Colts trailing 71-64.

Chartiers Valley coach Brandon Senor said after the game Davis was kept on the bench for disciplinary reasons. When asked if he thinks his message got through, Sensor simply said, “I hope so.”

Davis had a game-high 28 points for Chartiers Valley, including 11 of his team’s 19 third-quarter points.

Mislan said he definitely noticed when Davis was out and the role it played in the outcome.

“One-hundred percent in terms of being cognizant of him being out,” he said. “Of course, it doesn’t just change us. It changes them. It switches our defensive assignments into making it tougher for (Drew) Sleva and (Joey) Zajicek.”

The loss was the second straight for Chartiers Valley (7-11) after the Colts had won four straight.

South Fayette improves to 11-6 overall after a sixth straight win.

“What matters is how we are playing at the end of the regular season,” Mislan said. “We’re playing well and now we come home (Friday) for another section game against a good Moon team. There’s a long way to go, but it puts us in a good position.”

Tags: Chartiers Valley, South Fayette