Derry boys mount comeback to defeat Mt. Pleasant

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Saturday, January 27, 2024 | 5:14 PM

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Derry calls its style of play “Run and Jump.”

“We like to get out and go,” freshman forward Stanley Rajkovich said.

A third-quarter run allowed the Trojans to jump ahead to stay in their second meeting of the season against Mt. Pleasant.

Chaos tends to favor the Trojans, who turned up the defensive pressure, got a step ahead of the Vikings and erased a halftime deficit with a big third quarter on the way to a 66-50 victory in the Shootout at Seton Hill.

Senior Nate Papuga scored a game-high 23 points — 11 in the fourth quarter — and Rajkovich added 17 as the Trojans (10-5) made it four wins in five games.

“We picked up our trap with our run-and-jump,” said Papuga, who has 960 career points. “It’s a lot easier when we’re moving it up and down the court.”

Derry outscored Mt. Pleasant, 24-8, in the third.

Trailing 26-25 at the half, the Trojans erupted for an 11-0 run out of the break to pull ahead of the Vikings (6-9) by double figures.

Rajkovich, a tough matchup with his 6-foot-6 height and impressive wingspan, had six during the run, and senior Brady Angus made a 3-pointer before Papuga’s layup made it 38-28.

“Our effort was good, but our decision making was not,” Mt. Pleasant coach Annie Malkowiak said. “It was our help-side defense and positioning. We weren’t getting there in time.”

Derry led 16-15 after one quarter, but the Vikings scored six of the last nine points of the half to take the lead at halftime.

Senior Luke Rivardo hit a jumper to cut it to 39-30, but Derry scored the next eight, with Angus scoring on a break, Rajkovich putting back a miss and Papuga scoring inside to push it to 47-30.

Senior Chase McCloy hit a 3 for the Vikings to make it 49-39, but that was as close as they got.

Connor Pavlocak led Mt. Pleasant with 14 points, including four 3s.

McCloy and Dante Giallonardo added nine.

“In the first half, the biggest challenge was our mental toughness to start the game,” Derry coach Tom Esposito said. “That was our second basketball game in less than 50 hours. We had a good heart to heart at halftime. We said, it’s time for us to be us.

“I was proud of how we got after it in the third quarter.”

Derry has been playing well of late, and the momentum carried over. The Trojans defeated Burrell, 51-50, on Friday night. Earlier in the week, they only lost to defending WPIAL champion Deer Lakes, 55-53.

Derry and Mt. Pleasant aren’t section opponents because they play in different classifications, but the Trojans still earned a two-game sweep of the Vikings, having beaten them 73-56 earlier in the year.

Mt. Pleasant beat Charleroi on Friday, 48-40.

“Basketball is a game of runs,” Malkowiak said. “We had runs in the first half, but we didn’t in the second. Derry is a good team. It will come for us.”

The Shootout continues Sunday with five games.

Boys matchups include Franklin Regional vs. Obama Academy at 3 p.m., Youngstown East vs. The Kiski School (high school team) at 4:30, McKeesport vs. Armstrong at 6 and Run The Show Academy (Cranberry) vs. The Kiski School (post-grad team) at 7:30.

The only girls game is Franklin Regional vs. Belle Vernon at 1:30.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Derry Area, Mt. Pleasant