Perkiomen Valley tops OJR, seals Final Four position

GRATERFORD >> With a PAC-10 final four playoff berth on the line for Perkiomen Valley Monday night, Owen J. Roberts almost pushed the Vikings out of it.

Needing only to beat the sub-.500 Wildcats to secure the league post-season bid, the host Vikings ran into a tenacious team that played the spoiler role very well. It wasn’t until the fourth quarter that Perkiomen Valley took control, putting the game away at the free throw line and winning 55-41.

It was a very deceiving margin considering OJR led at halftime, 24-20, and PV didn’t take the lead for good until the last second of the third quarter.

The Vikings held the Wildcats to one fourth-quarter field goal and, running a ball-control spread most of the final five minutes, hit 14-of-15 free throws in the final frame. Justin Jaworski made all eight of his attempts in the final quarter, and 13-of-14 for the game. Otherwise, the Vikings’ main scoring threat had only field goal for the night as the Wildcats used a variety of defenses to slow him down.

PV senior Sean Moriarity led the way with his driving and defense, making some key plays down the stretch to help bring the Vikings (8-5 PAC-10, 13-8 overall) a sweet PAC-10 playoff spot – the team’s first since 2013. And impressively, the Vikings, who nosed out Boyertown, made it despite a 2-5 league start.

“I was on the freshman team the last time we made it, and I was watching them. And now I get to go play in one,” a smiling Moriarty said.        

“It was nice to see other guys step up,” Jaworski said.

OJR (3-9, 8-13) got 12 points from center Avery McDougal and 11 (two three-pointers) from Bobby Walker. PV led the first quarter, 12-8, but McDougal gave them trouble inside, getting four buckets in the second quarter, including three straight as OJR took a six-point lead. Dawson Stuart and Walker also keyed a surge in that period as the Wildcats outscored the Vikings 16-8. Guard Mitch Bradford supplied plenty of defense and helped run a pretty efficient OJR offense.

With Jaworski being hounded, PV was often shooting quickly and out of sync.

“They (OJR) fought really hard, and I think we came in a little jittery,” PV coach Mike Poysden said. “We didn’t trust in one another when we saw they were mixing up the defenses with the box-and-one and triangle-and-two.  Then we settled down and believed in one another. As they tried to take away certain guys, it was the responsibility of other teammates to step up and make plays.”

“I think we were a little too relaxed,” Moriarity said. “We beat them last time and kind of came in expecting we couldn’t get beat. We were in for a rude awakening. We came out flat. They D’d up Sean (Owens) and Jaws pretty well, got us off our offensive rhythm, and we came in at halftime and made some adjustments. We came out the second half ready to play.”

PV led only twice in the third quarter, 25-24, and on two Jaworski free throws with 1.4 seconds left for a 39-38 lead. OJR kept coming that period. The Wildcats led 32-29 on a Walker three, and took two more three-point leads on a rebound bucket from Walker and transition drive by Shyheed May.

Owens, another key backcourt offensive force the Wildcats targeted, awoke with a trey and a layup off a nice cut to tie the game at 38.

Moriarity would get the Vikes’ only field goal in the fourth quarter, going the distance for a layup with 1:57 left after he made a steal, making it 45-39. Next time down he blocked a shot.

“I thought they did a nice job of getting the ball inside on us, so at halftime we talked about how to attack it,” Poysden said. “It was nice to see in the second half we really picked up our defensive effort. A lot of times, it doesn’t matter whether you’re playing zone or man, but how hungry you are to defend.”