The sun might have been shining brightly outside Pine-Richland High School on Saturday afternoon, but inside, the clock was ticking down to midnight.
With eight-tenths of a second left and his team down by two points, Deer Lakes junior Evan Moore stepped to the foul line looking to send the game to overtime.
Moore’s first shot attempt hit the front iron and fell to the court.
On the second attempt, Moore missed on purpose, hoping he or a teammate would grab an offensive rebound and maybe put up a prayer.
But Quaker Valley’s Kolton Johnson came down with the rebound and sent the ball to the rafters as time expired, ending the 13th-seeded Lancers’ march through the WPIAL Class 4A playoffs with a 44-42 semifinal loss to top-seeded Quaker Valley.
“I told the guys, these are the tough moments in life and you have to take the good with the bad,” said Deer Lakes coach Albie Fletcher. “If you get knocked down, you have to find a way to get back up. I’m proud of their effort because it’s hard to put yourself out there in front of a lot of people and sometimes you have heartbreak at the end.”
Deer Lakes (12-13) played its physical style of basketball, but came up short.
“We came in expecting a physical game, but not what we actually got today,” said Johnson. “We’ve been holding a grudge against them all year after they beat us badly at their place last season. We came into this game ready to fight.”
The Quakers (20-3) were definitely ready as they came out on fire in the first quarter. Sophomore Nic Cohen made a pair of 3-pointers and Harrison Kerley added another, while Zach Washington scored six of his 20 points in the first quarter.
“We’ve been playing for a while, been battling,” said Quakers coach Mike Mastroianni. “We leaned on Zach today, and he played a lot of minutes. Our guys play well together, and they never wavered.”
Deer Lakes got buckets from Moore, Collin Rodgers, Luca Mangieri and Breydan McCoy, but only totaled eight points as the Quakers closed the first quarter on a 6-0 run with a 16-8 lead.
Even though it wasn’t the start the Lancers wanted, they knew if they stuck with what got them to this point, they would make it a game and have a chance at the end.
“I really thought we came together as a group in these last three weeks. We knew we were better than a 13 seed and our 10-12 record, but we knew we had a lot of basketball left,” said Fletcher. “Not a lot of people were giving us a chance, and it says a lot about our guys’ character or them to come together at the crucial time of the year.”
As hot as Quaker Valley was in the first quarter, the Quakers went ice cold in the second, only producing four points.
“We weren’t taking care of the ball in that second quarter,” said Mastroianni. “I think every one of our guys on the floor had a turnover, and that was out of character for us. We have to take care of the ball, and we were consistent in that during the year.”
The Quakers finished the first half with seven turnovers but took care of the ball in the second half, turning it over just four times.
Moore started to see his shots fall in that second quarter, scoring seven of his team-leading 15 points.
Dylan Ferraro added four and Rodgers nailed a jumper as time expired to lift Deer Lakes to a 23-20 advantage at halftime.
The second quarter was the only quarter in which the Lancers outscored the Quakers (15-4).
“We’ve struggled with the second quarter throughout the season, and I think we had a strong second quarter today,” said Fletcher. “They’re a fantastic team, and we knew they were going to come out aggressive, and we tried to match that. They did a good job of staying with the game plan, executing it and taking it one possession at a time.”
Coming out of the locker room, the message for Quaker Valley was simple: win the effort plays.
“They were getting a lot of offensive rebounds and second-chance points,” said Wasington. “Our coaches told us we needed to up our effort.”
Johnson took those words to heart, battling underneath all game for boards and finished with 12 to go along with his two points.
“I know myself, I can score. The guys on this team, they can shoot and facilitate,” Johnson said. “I know my job is to go get every board and get the ball back to them to make plays. We didn’t hit a lot of shots in the last three quarters, but we stayed the course.”
Quaker Valley clawed back within striking distance in the third quarter. Washington and Kerley made a field goal apiece and Sam Chapman sank two free throws. Cohen nailed a 3-pointer to pull the Quakers within two, 31-29, at the end of three.
“We talked at halftime about not being able to find a flow, and Deer Lakes had a lot to do with that,” said Mastroianni. “I thought in the fourth quarter we were able to string together some good plays, and it helped us come out ahead in what was a really close game.”
The Quakers kept up their solid play as the fourth quarter opened with Chapman nailing a pair of free throws.
Washington then took over, scoring half of his total points in the frame battling through a bloody nose he suffered with just under four minutes to go.
“It’s not about me scoring. It’s about how we share the ball,” said Washington. “When I see an opening, I’m going to attack the basket.”
Washington’s toughness, and the bounceback from the Quakers, was something Mastroianni told his players they need to do in order to win hard-fought playoff games.
“Playoff games are really just half-court scrums. I told our guys, we beat Belle Vernon by making a lot of shots, but that’s not how a playoff game usually goes,” Mastroianni said. “You have to win a few of these physical games if you want to advance in the playoffs.”
Quaker Valley survived and advanced to play No. 3 Knoch in the WPIAL Class 4A championship game at the Petersen Events Center at 9 p.m. Thursday.
“Knoch’s a very experienced team, and they have a tremendous coach,” Mastroianni said. “A combination like that is very tough to deal with. We’ll start thinking about them tomorrow and come up with a plan. Our guys are excited, having put in a lot of work to get to the championship game.”
Deer Lakes will play North Catholic in the third-place game Wednesday.
“The good thing is we have a chance immediately to bounce back and take this pain we have and fuel ourselves to get better,” said Fletcher. “Again, these are the tough moments, and it will test our bond as a group. We have to come back even stronger. There’s a lot of basketball left to play.”