Apr 5, 2024 By Chris Dugan 6 min read

The driving force behind Fort Cherry’s sensational run to both the WPIAL and PIAA Class 2A boys basketball semifinals was a guy who had visions years ago of playing in college.

He loved the sport, loved the competition and was starting to make a name for himself, even if college recruiters rarely look to Fort Cherry for players in his sport.

We’re talking about soccer, not basketball.

Soccer was where Derek Errett was going to make his mark in athletics. And he still might.

“Soccer was his sport,” Fort Cherry basketball coach Eugene Briggs said.

“Even now,” Errett admitted earlier this week following a practice for his club team, Victory Express.

However, for four months this school year, basketball was where Errett was making his name. His play from the point guard position was always solid and often spectacular. He averaged a team-high 18.9 points per game during the regular season and took his game to another level in the postseason as Fort Cherry was stopped by only state champion Aliquippa, in both the WPIAL and PIAA tournaments.

But even the Quips had to take notice of Errett’s play.

“One thing we noticed on tape was that Aliquippa played man-to-man and didn’t help on defense. They couldn’t stay in front of Derek the first time we played them. They finally had to run an extra guy at him,” Briggs said. “The second time we played Aliquippa, they tried to play us straight up in the first quarter.”

That quarter ended with Fort Cherry leading 15-9 and Errett scoring 11 of the Rangers’ points.

Aliquippa changed its defense from that point and went on to win the PIAA semifinal, 65-53. It was the Quips’ closest game in the postseason.

And for his outstanding play this season, Errett has been named the Observer-Reporter’s Boys Basketball Player of the Year.

“There is nothing he didn’t do well,” Briggs said.

“He was so good that after a while you just took it for granted. He’s shooting 58 percent from the field, getting rebounds, getting steals, getting assists, he doesn’t turn the ball over and he played defense.

“Derek finished with 1,006 points – scored more points this year than he did the first three years combined — and is the school’s all-time steals and assists leader,” Briggs continued. “And the latter two records were Wade Timmerson’s records. So it wasn’t like he broke the record of an average Joe.”

Timmerson was the O-R’s Boys Basketball Player of the Year in 1988 and went on to an outstanding career at Robert Morris.

After the basketball season he put together, the 5-10 Errett says he’d like to play in college.

In basketball.

Or soccer.

Or both sports.

“I’ve been contacted by Division III schools for basketball and a couple of Division II and III schools for soccer,” Errett pointed out. “It would be nice to play both in college, but it would be easier to play just one.”

Errett’s development as a point guard started in the summer before his freshman year, which was Briggs’ first season as coach of the Rangers. Fort Cherry was playing in a summer league game against Washington at the Brownson House when Errett gave the Rangers a glimpse of their future.

“We were struggling and that night I decided to try Derek at point guard,” Briggs recalled. “He was 5-2 and maybe 120 pounds. We were still trying to figure out who was going to play where. He handled the ball well that night against quicker and taller players and didn’t turn it over. From that point on, he was my point guard.

“In Derek’s first three years, we had scorers. His job was to get the ball to the scorers. This year, I told him to look for his shot more often.”

“I knew I had to score more this year,” said Errett, who displayed a soft touch from three-point range, directed FC’s fast-break attack and made daring straight-line drives to the basket, challenging taller opponents at the rim.

The 5-10 Errett led Fort Cherry to a 23-7 season that included six wins in the postseason.

“I didn’t see anyone who defended him one-on-one,” Briggs said. “You don’t get to say that very often, especially when you play the WPIAL and state champion twice. We also played Jeannette, Canevin, Winchester Thurston, Northgate and played teams from higher classifications, Washington and Trinity.

“When we played West Allegheny it was early in the season and we didn’t have anybody there (the Rangers were still competing in the PIAA football playoffs). After the game, their coach came over to me and said, “That point guard of yours, he’s the real deal.'”

Errett is joined on the all-district first team by some high-scoring players. Belle Vernon’s Zion Moore was the leading scorer in the WPIAL during the regular season, averaging 26.3 points per game. South Fayette’s Michael Plasko, another standout in both soccer and basketball, averaged 25.6 points per game, and Monessen’s Lorenzo Gardner scored at a 25.2 per game clip and set the school single-game scoring record with a 64-point outburst against California.

Rounding out the first team is Peters Township’s Jack Dunbar, the Player of the Year last season who had another stellar campaign with a 17.6 scoring average.

Dunbar, Moore and Gardner were first-team picks for the second year in a row.

The second team includes Burgettstown’s Zack Schrockman, who topped the 20-point per game mark as he finished the regular season with a 20.2 average. Also on the second team are Washington’s Ruben Gordon, Trinity’s 6-7 Jacob Dunkle (18.0 ppg), McGuffey’s Grayson Wallace (18.0), who is a recruit of Lees McRae, an NCAA Division II school in North Carolina, and Eamon O’Donoghue, who sparked a resurgence at Canon-McMillan and helped the Big Macs to the Class 6A playoffs.

The third team includes another 20-point-per-game scorer in Avella’s Westley Burchianti (20.4) and West Greene’s high-scoring Lane Allison (19.1). Rounding out the third team are Peters Township sharpshooter Dylan Donovan, Washington’s 6-6 center De’ondre Daugherty and Trinity’s Dante DeRubbo.

O-R All-District Boys Basketball Team

Player of the Year — Derek Errett, Fort Cherry

First Team

Jack Dunbar, Peters Township, Sr. F

Derek Errett, Fort Cherry, Sr., G

Lorenzo Gardner, Monessen, Sr., F

Zion Moore, Belle Vernon, Jr., G

Michael Plasko, South Fayette, Sr., G

Second Team

Jacob Dunkle, Trinity, Jr., F

Ruben Gordon, Washington, Sr., G

Eamon O’Donoghue, Canon-McMillan, Sr., F

Zack Schrockman, Burgettstown, Sr., G

Grayson Wallace, McGuffey, Sr., F

Third Team

Lane Allison, West Greene, Jr., F

Westley Burchianti, Avella, Sr., G

Dante DeRubbo, Trinity, Sr., G

Dylan Donovan, Peters Township, So., G

De’ondre Daugherty, Washington, Sr., C