South Fayette boys take pride in navigating challenging season

By: Don Rebel
Monday, March 15, 2021 | 1:04 PM

A similar theme that many district basketball coaches have talked about recently is not of the disappointment of team goals not met, but the satisfaction of having a season in an effort to reach those goals.

Count South Fayette boys basketball coach Dave Mislan among them.

“I guess the best way to assess the season cannot be based on wins and losses, but based on being thankful that we were able to actually play 20 games after being shut down numerous times,” Mislan said. “I cannot express how thankful I am to be able to say we were able to safely put on Lions uniforms 20 times and compete.”

The Lions finished 10-10 overall and ended up with a 3-5 Section 2-5A record.

“In terms of success, I can truly say these kids handled the adversity way better than I expected a bunch of young kids to handle such tough circumstances,” Mislan said. “Our team along with the rest of the WPIAL got shut down three weeks before ever playing a game.

“When we returned Jan. 4, we practiced two days then had a few players test positive, which shut us down 10 more days. In the month of January, we played five games and had five practices. Not a great recipe for success, but we felt it was really important for the kids to be able to play as many games as possible to be able to enjoy the experience of a crazy season.”

South Fayette participated in the WPIAL Class 5A open tournament and began the postseason with a bang. In a preliminary round playoff game at home against Woodland Hills, the Lions roared to a 59-39 victory.

“We were able to establish the tempo to our favor and really guard them to gain a 20-point halftime lead,” Mislan said. “Our staple this season was clearly defense, and that game was a perfect example.”

However, the postseason ended for South Fayette with a 60-27 loss in the first round against No. 6 seed Penn Hills.

“The Penn Hills game was the exact opposite,” Mislan said. “I’m not sure anyone was playing better than Penn Hills at the time, especially having to play them on their home court. I thought we did a great job handling their full court pressure, but they really handled us in the half court, and we really didn’t have any answers for their length and athleticism.

“Scoring is contagious and when we were cold early, we never really were able to get into a rhythm or flow to have any offensive success.”

While most teams decided to end the season once they were eliminated from the WPIAL playoffs, Mislan and his players decided to play one more game, so a nonsection contest against West Allegheny was set up for two days after the Penn Hills loss.

The Lions ended the 2021 season with a 69-63 triumph at home over the Indians.

“We definitely have a little rivalry with West A, and we also have a bunch of players and coaches that like competing together,” Misland said. “The decision to play the extra game was an easy one for us. First of all, we had a bad taste from the Penn Hills game, so we definitely wanted to get out and play again, and then when our guys had the opportunity to play West A, it was an easy decision.”

Now that the offseason is here, Mislan believes there is plenty to be excited about looking ahead to the roster he will have for the 2021-2022 campaign.

“Experience is what excites me most about next year,” Mislan said. “We just went through a season with one returning starter that also missed half of our games, so we played many games with very little varsity experience. Now we will enter next season with four, sometimes five returning starters.

“Also the hunger of seniors excites me. We will have a senior-heavy team next year, and I’m expecting the group to put in a fantastic offseason to make the most of their senior season. They definitely deserve good results.”

While looking ahead, Mislan also wanted to look back and deliver one final message from this unique season.

“I definitely want to thank the parents and players for being flexible and understanding with a very unusual season in which parents did not get to travel to away venues to watch their kids play and with schedules changing daily,” he said. “I have a coaching staff that shows up regardless of the situation with a positive attitude. They just love to be around the kids and go above and beyond to make the group better.”

Tags: South Fayette