Deer Lakes makes more history with berth in 1st PIAA final
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Tuesday, March 21, 2023 | 10:17 PM
Deer Lakes’ Billy Schaeffer celebrates after defeating Penn Cambria in their PIAA Class 3A state semifinal on Tuesday, March 21, 2023, at Hempfield.
Deer Lakes’ Wayne Love celebrates next to Penn Cambria’s Garrett Harrold after scoring during their PIAA Class 3A state semifinal on Tuesday, March 21, 2023, at Hempfield.
Deer Lakes’ Wayne Love and Derek Burk celebrate with Hershey’s bars after defeating Penn Cambria in their PIAA Class 3A semifinal Tuesday.
Deer Lakes’ Billy Schaeffer scores against Penn Cambria’s Vinny Chirdon during their PIAA Class 3A state semifinal on Tuesday, March 21, 2023, at Hempfield.
Deer Lakes’ Nathaniel Moore steals the ball from Penn Cambria’s Garrett Harrold during the fourth quarter of their PIAA Class 3A state semifinal on Tuesday, March 21, 2023, at Hempfield.
Deer Lakes’ Billy Schaeffer smiles after scoring against Penn Cambria during the fourth quarter of their PIAA Class 3A state semifinal on Tuesday, March 21, 2023, at Hempfield.
Deer Lakes’ Wayne Love celebrates after scoring against Penn Cambria during the fourth quarter of their PIAA Class 3A state semifinal on Tuesday, March 21, 2023, at Hempfield.
The Deer Lakes student section cheers on the Lancers during their PIAA Class A state semifinal against Penn Cambria on Tuesday, March 21, 2023, at Hempfield.
Deer Lakes’ Billy Schaeffer shoots a three-pointer against Penn Cambria during the fourth quarter of their PIAA Class 3A state semifinal on Tuesday, March 21, 2023, at Hempfield.
Deer Lakes’ Nate Litrun works against Penn Cambria’s Vinny Chirdon during their PIAA Class 3A state semifinal on Tuesday, March 21, 2023, at Hempfield.
Neither team had ever reached the state finals, so the Deer Lakes and Penn Cambria boys basketball teams knew history would be made one way or the other Tuesday night.
The Lancers made sure they weren’t just a footnote.
Billy Schaeffer made a go-ahead 3-pointer midway through the fourth quarter — the last of 13 lead changes — as Deer Lakes defeated District 6 champion Penn Cambria, 61-56, in a PIAA Class 3A semifinal at Hempfield, advancing the WPIAL champion Lancers to Hershey for the first time.
The go-ahead shot sparked a decisive 12-2 run.
The Lancers’ lead grew to nine points when Schaeffer capped the run with a 3-point play in the final minute, prompting the student section to chant, “We want chocolate.”
“First time in school history,” Schaeffer said. “What can I say? Last team alive from the west. You’ve got to respect that.”
Deer Lakes (21-8) won its first WPIAL title earlier this month and now adds another milestone accomplishment. The Lancers have done it with four senior starters and a first-year head coach in Albie Fletcher, a 1993 graduate and former Lancers player.
“This is a lifetime moment,” said Fletcher, who scooped a piece of chocolate from the court. “I’m so happy for the kids to have this experience in front of their community and their student body.”
They’re now hoping their storybook postseason will have a fairytale ending, much like when the Deer Lakes girls won a state basketball title in 1985. District 12 champion West Catholic (19-10) awaits the Lancers in the PIAA finals at 2 p.m. Saturday at Giant Center in Hershey.
“I can’t wait to go,” Fletcher said.
The Lancers are senior heavy, yet two juniors led them in scoring. Schaeffer, the only junior in the starting lineup, scored a team-high 17 points, and teammate Wayne Love added 16 off the bench. The Lancers needed more help when senior starter Nate Litrun went down with an ankle injury in the second quarter.
Litrun tried to return after halftime but couldn’t.
“When your big 6-foot-5 guy goes down on the ground, your heart goes a little bit,” Fletcher said. “You feel for the kid first and foremost, but you should have seen in the locker room how they rallied. ‘Our man is down. We’re going to go get this for him.’ ”
Love, a 6-2 forward, helped fill the spot. He went 7 for 7 shooting, added two free throws and scored four points in every quarter.
“All year we’ve been running 10 guys deep,” Schaeffer said. “That’s what we’ve been working on. Nobody can run with us if we have 10 guys who can all contribute. Any guy on any given day can step up.”
Nate Moore, a 6-2 sophomore, made 4 of 5 shots and added eight points.
Moments after Schaeffer’s 3-pointer gave Deer Lakes a 52-50 lead, Moore scored on the next possession to extend the Lancers’ lead to four. Those points were the start of a 12-2 run that ultimately gave Deer Lakes a 61-52 lead with 44 seconds left.
Schaeffer capped the run with his layup and foul shot. A 6-foot guard, Schaeffer scored 12 of his 17 points in the second half including three of his four 3-pointers.
The go-ahead 3-pointer at the 5-minute mark didn’t surprise his coach.
“He did a nice job of staying patient in the corner,” Fletcher said. “We got him the kick and his feet are set. That’s what Billy Schaeffer does.”
With a slim fourth-quarter lead, Deer Lakes’ defense then made a stand. Penn Cambria scored only one basket in a five-minute span.
“We said at halftime, ‘Look, this game comes down to defense and rebounding. Period,’” Fletcher said. “It did.”
Deer Lakes led 21-19 after one quarter and 48-45 after three. The teams were tied 34-34 at halftime.
Senior guard Zach Grove scored a game-high 23 points, and teammate Garrett Harrold added 20 for Penn Cambria (24-6). Harrold, a 6-3 senior and Duquesne football recruit, was the team’s top scorer all season, but Grove’s points were more surprising. The 5-9 guard had averaged eight points but went 6-for-10 shooting from the field and made four 3-pointers.
“What a great team,” Fletcher said. “You take a couple away and they just hit you with two more. They won the physical battle in the first half, there’s no doubt about it.”
Grove had 10 points in the second quarter alone, which ended with a scoring flurry.
The first-half lead changed hands on seven consecutive baskets late in the quarter as the teams traded shot for shot heading into halftime. A basket by Harrold gave Penn Cambria a 34-32 lead with less than 10 seconds left before Deer Lakes’ Collin Rodgers sprinted the length of the floor for a tying layup at the buzzer.
There also were ties at 29-29 and 32-32.
“We challenged (the players) at halftime and said this game comes down to defense and rebounding,” Fletcher said. “It did. In the second half, we turned it around.”
In the fourth, five consecutive points from Grove gave Penn Cambria a 50-49 lead with five minutes left. Yet the last lead change belonged to Deer Lakes, when Schaeffer made his go-ahead 3-pointer. Moore followed with a layup, Love scored four consecutive points and Schaeffer added three more.
Schaeffer wasn’t worried about the number of lead changes, as long as the Lancers got the last.
“I just wanted to win,” he said. “I got the pass and knocked it down, what we’ve been practicing since summer.”
Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.
Tags: Deer Lakes
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