For those who like high-scoring, run-and-gun basketball games, Derry was not the place to be Tuesday.
The Trojans and Greensburg Salem played a tough, physical game that might remind people of the old Big East Conference.
Shots were contested, and battles for rebounds were intense.
But at the end, Derry found away to pull out a win 45-41 with star junior forward Stanley Rajkovich on the bench after fouling out with 3 minutes, 23 seconds left on a double technical foul — one assessed to Rajkovich and the other to the Golden Lions’ Noah Dudek.
Three other fouls called against Rajkovich were offensive.
Derry got a clutch 3-pointer from Hudson Fridley to snap a 34-34 tie and give the Trojans a 37-34 lead.
The Golden Lions were able to tie the score 37-37 with 2:22 left on a free throw by Solomon Cain and a basket by Cain, but a basket by William Stockett-Harter with 1:09 left gave the Trojans to lead for good.
Stockett-Harter finished with 14 points.
Braydon Robinson put the game away by making 3 of 4 free throws and getting a key offensive rebound.
Robinson finished with 11 points, and Rajkovich had nine.
“This was a huge win, especially after letting the East Allegheny game slip away last week,” Derry coach Tom Esposito said. “With all respect, East Allegheny outplayed us and outworked us.
“We were able to regroup after that and fought back. We refused to lose this game.”
Derry was 7 of 11 from the foul line in the fourth quarter, and the Golden Lions made 4 of 10. They were 5 of 18 overall.
“We had our chances,” Greensburg Salem coach Paul Sapotichne said. “We make a few more free throws and don’t turn the ball over, it might have a different outcome.
“We will learn from this. I thought we played well defensively, and we did a good job on Rajkovich. It would have been nice to get a win on the road.”
Derry started quickly, jumping out to a 6-0 lead on two baskets by Stockett-Harter and one by Robinson.
Greensburg Salem (3-3, 1-1) finally found its footing and crawled back into the game on buckets by Ty Harkom and Jackson Stevey.
Derry (4-3, 1-1) led 11-6 after a quarter and 20-14 at halftime. Rajkovich scored seven points in the second quarter for the Trojans.
“Derry is a very good team,” Sapotichne said. “We played good team defense. I will go back and watch film, and we will fix some things.”
Greensburg Salem started the second half strong and took a 26-23 lead behind Stevey’s seven points.
That led to the exciting finish.
Harkom finished with 14 points, Stevey added 13 and Cain ended up with 11.