Perk Valley rallies past Souderton
FRANCONIA >> Perkiomen Valley gained an edge in the third quarter it never lost, and the Vikings would grind out a 43-36 non-league victory Wednesday night on the road at Souderton Area.
“Just the intensity coming out of the half was a lot different,” said Vikings guard Zach Krause. “We just felt like we needed to pick it up and we did.”
Krause came off the bench to deliver a 13-point performance, tied with Souderton’s Tomas Hanrahan for the game high.
“My teammates just got me the ball and we wanted to win this game,” said Krause, who hit a trio of threes in a tide-turning second half. “I felt good. My teammates just got me open and I knocked down the shots.”
After trailing by six at the half, it was a three by Krause that drew the Vikings (8-6, 1-3 PAC Liberty) even. Perk Valley went ahead 26-24 by the end of the third on a drive by Connor McShea and then Krause hit another three, extending the PV advantage to 29-24.
Kavi Ramchandani hit for Souderton (5-8, 2-3 SOL Continental) but then Krause was good from three again, Carson Parks soon battled inside for two, and the Vikings led comfortably the rest of the way.
“Defensively, we talked it out and played well,” said Krause, after the Vikings allowed just five field goals by Souderton in the fourth quarter. “We have momentum, we’ve won a couple in a row, and we just feel good.”
Parks was a force inside for the Vikings with nine points, Dante Graves added eight, and excellent ball movement by the visitors allowed PV to dribble down the clock in the fourth.
It was a drive to the hoop by Hanrahan that opened the scoring, putting the Indians in front early.
Both teams would push through a sluggish first quarter, with Souderton going ahead.
Trevor Watts hit a jumper, Hanrahan scored in transition, and Big Red was up 6-3 after one.
The only field goal by the Vikings in the first came from Parks, but Perk Valley got its offense going a bit more in the second.
PV went ahead 11-10 on a basket by Kevin Bernabe, and then the Indians put together a 7-0 run.
Antonio Rodriguez hit from three, Andrew Vince took it all the way in for two, and Hanrahan added a baseline jumper to provide the Indians a 17-11 lead at the break.
Hanrahan had six points in the first half for Souderton and Watts added four.
But Perk Valley took over after halftime.
“We locked down defensively in the first half,” Big Red coach Tim Brown said. “In the second half, we let guys drive, we let guys shoot, and you can’t have that happen. It’s gotta be a 32-minute game of focus and intensity and we didn’t have that tonight.”
Souderton hosts Central Bucks South Friday in an SOL Continental clash while Perk Valley travels to Owen J. Roberts for a PAC Liberty game.
