Deer Lakes comeback bid falls short vs. Penn Cambria in PIAA 1st-round matchup

By: George Guido
Tuesday, March 8, 2022 | 9:53 PM

Down by 16 at the end of the first quarter and 13 at the half, Deer Lakes came back to take a brief lead in the third period.

But the Penn Cambria Panthers were ultimately able to hold on, 66-63, in a Class 4A opening-round PIAA tournament game at Ebensburg’s Central Cambria High School.

It was the first PIAA victory for Penn Cambria (22-5) in 20 years. The Panthers will take on Montour in second-round play Friday.

Deer Lakes concluded its season at 16-7.

Nothing seemed to go right for the Lancers while Penn Cambria was hitting practically everything and was able to take a commanding lead.

The Panthers held Deer Lakes standout Armend Karpuzi scoreless in the first half. But the 6-foot-2 senior was like a different player in the second half, propelling a Lancers comeback. Deer Lakes started the second half on a 22-7 surge, led by Karpuzi, who scored 12 points in the period, snared four rebounds and had two steals as two assists.

Panthers defenders Garrett Harrold and Kyle Reese were blocking the driving lanes toward the hoop, and the Lancers’ outside game was missing at the same time.

“Their guards did a nicer job further in the game, they started attacking our perimeter in the second half,” said Penn Cambria coach Jim Ronan. “That opened things up a little bit more and Reese wasn’t able to just clog things up. Karpuzi made some really big shots that were hard to defend. He’s a really nice player.”

“They were definitely collapsing on me in the first half,” Karpuzi said. “I think in the second half, I caught a spark of fire, and we did what we had to do.”

Deer Lakes would have been in an even bigger hole were it not for the shooting of junior Michael Butler, who had 11 of Deer Lakes’ 16 points in the second period.

“To get down 22-6 was brutal,” said Lancers coach Terence Parham. “We knew coming in this team would be comfortable with the fourth or fifth game playing at this gym. They were shooting lights out in the first half. To the kids’ credit, they could have folded. They came out and gave everything they had.”

Deer Lakes committed just one turnover in the third period.

The Lancers actually took the lead briefly in the third period, 44-41, on Karpuzi’s 3-pointer with 2 minutes, 3 seconds left.

But Panthers junior guard Vinnie Chirdon responded with two quick 3-pointers to give Penn Cambria the lead again.

“Vinnie’s one of the best shooters we have,” Ronan said. “The last couple of games, he didn’t get a lot of shots, just the way those games unfolded. Tonight, we told him he had to be ready. I told him if he knocked the first one down, his confidence would be sky high. He was tremendous for us tonight.”

Penn Cambria scored the first nine points of the fourth period, taking a 56-46 lead. But back came Deer Lakes again as 3-point shooting specialist Lucas Tiglio hit a pair of treys and Karpuzi’s basket with 1:24 to go tied the game at 61-all.

A three-point play by Resse finally gave Penn Cambria the lead for good.

Harrold missed two foul shots in the final 30 seconds of play, but the Lancers were called for a five-second violation and Justin Brannagan, hero of the playoff win against Blackhawk with a 3-pointer on Feb. 18, couldn’t convert with five seconds left.

“We were tryng to get Lucas on the wing there on the transition,” Parham said. “We tried to get it back to Bryce Robson, but they did a good job making it tough, and this one didn’t fall for Justin.”

Karpuzi had 20 points and 11 rebounds. Tiglio had 15 point, all on 3s, and Robson finished with 14.

Harrold had 23 points, Reese 19 and Chirdon 15.

Tags: Deer Lakes