Deer Lakes boys adjusting to life atop Section 3-3A

By: HSSN Staff
Monday, January 21, 2019 | 9:27 PM

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The Deer Lakes boys basketball coaches regularly check the area of their Hudl online video account that lets them see how often players are watching opposing film, making sure the Lancers are doing their homework.

Right now, the team would get an A for that effort, which is becoming more important with each passing day.

Deer Lakes is holding itself accountable as it sits in unfamiliar territory as the first-place team in Section 3-3A, three games clear of its nearest competitors and firmly controlling its destiny in the second half of the season. While the No. 5 Lancers (10-4, 7-0) qualified for the WPIAL playoffs each of the past two seasons, they did so both times as the fourth-place team.

“Now the ‘X’ is on your chest,” Deer Lakes coach Terence Parham said. “You’re going to get everybody’s best game because you’re at the top of the standings, so it’s a new position for us, but one I had definitely hoped to be in as a head coach when I took this job. I’m very pleased with how they’re playing right now.”

Each win brings a new milestone for Deer Lakes, which hadn’t started even 5-0 in section play since 1987. The Lancers last won a section title in 2013, and their last playoff win came in 1985.

The Lancers acknowledged they wouldn’t mind making school history, but right now they just want to keep winning.

“I guess we know that feeling of how it feels to lose, so we just don’t want to feel that feeling,” senior Colin Kadlick said. “We’re just refusing to lose.”

The hot start doesn’t mean everything has come easily for Deer Lakes. The Lancers overcame a 12-point second-half deficit against Burrell, held off a late charge from Steel Valley to get a one-point win and rallied from another fourth-quarter deficit to beat South Allegheny last week.

“I think each section game has presented a different challenge,” senior Brad Perrotte said. “We’ve tackled each one, so I just hope we can keep doing that. It’s different challenges.”

Parham said he talked to his players about the newest challenge: adapting to being the first-place team.

“It’s something of a different mindset,” he said. “The focus and paying attention to detail is just crucial with this group, and they’re doing a good job.”

Deer Lakes returned a solid core from its back-to-back playoff appearances, but it also lost double-digit seniors, forcing the Lancers to adapt to new roles and incorporate new pieces.

By all accounts, that’s gone well. Perrotte is leading the team in scoring, complemented by fellow seniors Jared Colton and Kadlick and junior Jack Hollibaugh, while junior point guard Zac Herbinko headlines the new faces.

Colton, Hollibaugh and Perrotte scored 16 points each in the win over South Allegheny.

“I think we’re getting adjusted to playing with each other, and we feed off each other,” Perrotte said.

Six of the seven teams in Deer Lakes’ section qualified for the WPIAL playoffs last season (Deer Lakes and Valley dropped from Class 4A to 3A between seasons). Parham supplemented that schedule with nonsection games against some of the top teams in the WPIAL: Ambridge, OLSH and Cornell, the top-ranked teams in classes 4A, 2A and A, respectively, plus Class 4A No. 5 Knoch.

“We always try to schedule as tough as possible in the nonsection with the expectation that you would make the dance, the playoffs,” Parham said. “If you did that, at least now you’d have some preparation. … I feel like the guys are battle-tested, and right now, the struggle is to keep the guys focused because these guys have never been in this position before.”

Parham coached Shady Side Academy from 2004-12 before taking on the Deer Lakes job in 2015, and the Indians won four titles in that time. He’s hoping he can bring the same to the Lancers in his fourth year on the job.

“It’s a huge test, but we just have to do what we did for the first half of the section,” Kadlick said.

Doug Gulasy is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Doug at dgulasy@tribweb.com or via Twitter @dgulasy_Trib.

Tags: Deer Lakes