Spring-Ford rallies to down Perk Valley 38-35 in rematch of PAC title game
GRATERFORD >> For three quarters Thursday night, Spring-Ford didn’t have an answer.
Tyler Strechay was shooting the lights out and Perkiomen Valley was wreaking havoc on the defensive end while the Rams couldn’t get their shots to fall.
That all changed in the last eight minutes, though.
Spring-Ford scored the final 10 points of the game on the way to an exciting 38-35 win over the Vikings in a matchup that always proves to be a marquee Pioneer Athletic Conference Liberty Division clash.
“We didn’t want to lose against that team,” said Spring-Ford junior guard Noah Baker of Perk Valley, noting that the two neighboring teams had met in the past two conference championship games. “That’s our rival, and it’s always a battle between us two. It took us some time, but we stepped up when it counted most.”
Baker stepped up in crunch time, scoring eight of his team-high 18 points in the fourth as the Rams (1-1 PAC Liberty, 4-1 overall) used a 14-2 advantage in the final quarter to seal it.
Perk Valley (0-2, 3-2) controlled the tempo and the transition through the first three quarters, but was plagued by a turnover-filled fourth that featured plenty of missed opportunities.
“We’ve got to take better care of the ball,” said Perk Valley head coach Michael Poysden. “Yes, it was them (Spring-Ford) doing it — forcing the turnovers — but it was also us helping them. We had too many live turnovers and they turned them into points.”
Strechay finished with a game-high 20 points with four 3-pointers. He scored his team’s final 10 points of the third quarter but was completely bottled up with the rest of the Vikings the rest of the way.
“He’s the type of kid where, you know he’s going to get his,” said Spring-Ford head coach Chris Talley of Strechay. “He’s not just a shooter anymore. He can drive to the basket and score in traffic. He and Baker definitely have a good healthy competition going on. It’ll be fun to watch those two the next couple of seasons.”
Spring-Ford’s first two possessions of the fourth quarter ended with Nestor Diaz finishing a layup in transition to pull the Rams’ deficit to 33-28. After AJ Hansen scored a basket on a textbook feed from Andrew Light, it was all Spring-Ford from there on out.
Baker scored an and-one bucket above the rim, then sunk a free-throw on the Rams’ ensuing possession. On the Vikings’ next trip down the court, Baker forced a turnover on the defensive end and finished in transition to make it a one-point game.
Spring-Ford took its first lead of the night with 2:49 left in regulation as Baker knocked down a pair of free-throws. Just when it looked as though Perk Valley was on the cusp of breaking through, Jay Robinson was there to deny it.
The senior forward came up with a thunderous block to preserve the one-point lead as a PV guard was on the fastbreak with a shade under two minutes to go. Diaz added some breathing room with a put-back on the offensive end that stood as the game’s final basket.
“We did a much better job in the fourth quarter with our transition game,” said Talley. “Through the first three quarters, we let them dictate the transition and they made us pay. We never got out in transition and we let them play their game — which was simply half-court.”
The Rams had plenty of chances to put it away late, but came up empty on three-straight trips to the foul line in the final 40 seconds.
Although disappointed with the final outcome, Poysden knows there is a long way to go.
“It’s before Christmas still,” he said. “There is so much basketball left. We always say that our best basketball is never going to come before the middle of January. That’s means you’ve either plateaued or you’re not working hard to improve. We’ve got some work to do, of course, but so does everybody else.”
