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Mistakes break Charleroi boys in loss to Deer Lakes

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DORMONT – The Charleroi boys basketball team reached double figures in all four quarters and had three players score in the double-digits, but history wasn’t on their side Saturday afternoon at Keystone Oaks High School.

Deer Lakes broke a 34-year drought with a playoff win and was able to hold onto a 57-47 victory over the Cougars in the first round of the Class AAA playoffs.

“We were just in catchup mode the whole game,” Charleroi coach Bill Wiltz said. “We started slow and could never really get back into the game. Some of their kids hit some threes and we didn’t expect those kids to shoot those shots. We just couldn’t overcome our mistakes.”

The Lancers (16-6) will play North Catholic in the quarterfinals Thursday.

Brad Perotte led all scorers in the game with 17 points for Deer Lakes. Colin Kadlick chipped in with 11.

“We wanted to change the culture here,” Deer Lakes coach Terence Parham said. “This was a big win for us and I think our kids answered the challenge. We always stress holding teams to under 50 points and we want to make teams work hard to get points against us.”

Joey Caruso scored 14 points for the Cougars (11-11). Legend Davis added 12 points and Lee Zanardini had 11.

“I think in the second half we had better ball movement,” Wiltz said. “We went to our dribble-drive and that loosen up some things for us. That freed up our three-pointer shooters and we were able to drill some shots from beyond the arc. But late in the fourth our shots just didn’t fall.”

After the teams traded threes to open the contest, Deer Lakes went on an 8-3 spurt before Charleroi countered with four straight points courtesy of Davis to make it 11-10.

The Lancers scored five of the final seven points of the quarter to extend their lead to 16-12.

“Deer Lakes is tough to defend,” Wiltz said. “You can’t key in on one guy. They were able to penetrate our defense at times and they are just good shooters. When we were in our matchup zone, we just couldn’t stop their penetration.”

The Cougars kept with the sixth-seeded Lancers in the first half of the second quarter, but Deer Lakes ended the period on an 8-2 run and was up 33-22 at halftime.

After Charleroi scored the opening basket in the third quarter, Deer Lakes went on a 9-2 spree and then tallied the final four points of the quarter to go up 48-35 heading into the fourth.

A three-pointer by Charleroi’s Zack Usher made things tighter late in the game as the Cougars closed to within single digits at 54-45.

The Lancers were able to get enough defensive stops late and make enough free throws to solidify the postseason victory and end Charleroi’s season.

“At the beginning of the year, we wanted to compete for the fourth place spot in our section,” Wiltz said. “We were really young and some of our kids got injured during football season. We battled through all of that stuff and started the season off good. These kids have great character and I think we can be a force in years to come.”

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