No. 1 Deer Lakes ramps up defensive pressure, rolls past Sto-Rox in Class 3A 1st round

By: Jerin Steele
Monday, February 19, 2024 | 9:48 PM

Leading up to Monday’s first-round playoff game, the past week was all about defense for Deer Lakes coach Albie Fletcher.

He felt the team had lost its identity a bit on that side of the ball, which became their calling card on their run to last year’s WPIAL Class 3A championship.

The top-seeded Lancers responded with a sterling effort, forcing 24 turnovers, and began their title defense with a 62-32 rout of No. 16 Sto-Rox.

“We talked about defense all week long and felt like we had to get ourselves right and forget about our opponent,” Fletcher said. “My hat’s off to them. They bought in and it showed tonight. We were in and out of a lot of different pressures and they were lined up the right way and executed very well.”

Deer Lakes advanced to play No. 9 Ellwood City in the quarterfinals Thursday.

The Lancers (18-4) used various full-court pressures, half-court traps and hustle to frustrate Sto-Rox (10-13).

They forced 19 turnovers in the first half, which helped them take a 38-12 lead into halftime.

“We’ve been focused on sustaining pressure, staying defensively sound, having help defense and just playing together,” Lancers guard Aiden Fletcher said. “That’s us as a defense. Staying together and playing hard. That’s why we were able to turn them over. I was fortunate to get my hands on a couple of them.”

Deer Lakes instituted hockey-like substitutions, replacing five players at a time on multiple occasions.

Aiden Fletcher, the coach’s son, was one of those substitutes who would come off the bench last year and is now in the starting lineup along with Nate Moore, Wayne Love, Billy Schaeffer and Collin Rodgers.

They were spelled by Luca Mangieri, JT McCue, Colby Sutch, Brayden McCoy and Anthony Smith.

The pressure and defensive execution didn’t dip for the few minutes at a time the reserves played and Deer Lakes’ lead continued to balloon.

The Lancers used a similar tactic during their 2023 run to the state championship game.

“We wanted to get back to being Deer Lakes, which means bringing heavy pressure consistently, so we decided to do a little throwback tonight,” Albie Fletcher said. “All those guys have been nibbling, getting time here and there, but let’s just come at them early. When they came on, it was 7-0 and then it was 9-1. When those guys go in and keep it the same or it’s a two-point swing either way, they’ve done their job and given quality minutes.”

Deer Lakes’ defensive effort was complemented by balanced scoring. Rodgers led the way with 16 points, Moore had 14, Schaeffer finished with 12, and Love had 11. The litany of forced turnovers led to a bunch of opportunities for quick transition buckets.

David Johnson led Sto-Rox with 11.

The Lancers will now turn their attention to Ellwood City, a team they defeated in the first round last year. A win will guarantee the Lancers a return trip to the state playoffs.

“When you’re the top seed, you’re expected to win, so we wanted to come in tonight and handle business to get to that next step,” Aiden Fletcher said. “We’re going to take it one step at a time.”

Jerin Steele is a freelance writer

Tags: Deer Lakes, Sto-Rox