Spring-Ford holds down Perkiomen Valley for PAC Liberty victory

ROYERSFORD >> A quick glance at the last few box scores showed quite clearly what the key to Spring-Ford’s three-game winning streak was leading up to Tuesday’s game against Perkiomen Valley.

The Rams entered the Pioneer Athletic Conference Liberty Division rivalry game playing excellent defense, having held their previous three opponents under 40 points.

Though they could not keep the Vikings under the 40-point threshold due to a late rally by PV’s reserves, Spring-Ford’s work on the defensive end through the first three quarters was enough for a 57-49 victory over Perkiomen Valley and a fourth straight win.

Michael Fitzgerald had 14 points, Zack Skrocki had 11 and Jake Kressley scored 10 for Spring-Ford. Tyler Lapetina and Kameron Parks shared Perkiomen Valley’s top scoring honors with 14 apiece, and Anthony Martinez added 11 off the bench.

“Definitely our defense,” Skrocki said of the strength of this Rams team. “I don’t know what we held them to tonight, but the last three games before that we held teams to like 30 points or something, so definitely the defense. We’re still working on our offense. It’s starting to get going a little bit though.”

Spring-Ford coach Chris Talley likes to give his team a test at the beginning of each season. It’s why the Rams opened the 2019-20 campaign with games against perennial District 1 playoff teams Central Bucks West and South.

This year Spring-Ford directly followed with the other top teams in the Liberty Division — Norristown, Methacton and Boyertown — and Frontier leader Pope John Paul II. The Rams exited the early stretch with a 3-3 mark overall and 1-2 record in Liberty play, though all but one of the six games was a one-possession contest.

Spring-Ford dropped below the .500 mark with a 1-2 showing at the KSA Classic in Orlando, Fla. over the holiday break, but the Rams have since come back to win their last four, including a non-league win Saturday over Pennridge, which has lost just one other contest this year.

Tuesday’s win helped Spring-Ford (3-2 Liberty, 5-2 PAC, 8-5) stay within a game behind second place Boyertown in the Liberty division..

“We always like to stack the beginning to get us ready,” Fitzgerald said. “I think that actually does help because we get the good teams out of the way, and it gets us ready for the rest of the season. I think we handled it pretty well.”

Perkiomen Valley (0-5 Liberty, 2-5 PAC, 4-7) trailed 15-12 after the first quarter, despite 10 points from Lapetina, who is turning into one of the PAC’s leading scorers. Skrocki said he began to faceguard Lapetina in the second quarter and with their leading scorer tallying just four points the rest of the contest, the Vikings struggled to find buckets.

PV fell behind 32-20 at halftime after an eight-point second quarter. Lapetina and Parks combined for PV’s first 24 points of the game before Lapetina found Ethan Kohler underneath with a minute and a half to go in the third. The Rams held the Vikings to seven points in the quarter to take a 46-27 advantage into the fourth.

“Now that Tyler’s a marked man, he’s gotta go through that learning curve that (Tyler Strechay) went through and (Justin Jaworski) went through,” Perk Valley coach Mike Poysden said. “You’ve gotta screen your way out of it. At times we’ve kind of shown him on film, when you stand still, now we’re playing four-on-four. Screen guys in and get guys moving north, south to the basket and good things open up.”

Spring-Ford built its lead up to 49-27 early in the fourth after Nate Santiago buried his third triple of the game. The Vikings’ reserve unit cut the deficit to 51-40 with 2:54 to go.

A three by Anthony Martinez, who scored all 11 of his points in the fourth, brought PV within five, 52-47, with 40 seconds to go before the Rams’ held on for the win in a sloppy finish.

“It was cool to watch the end of the game in that guys who don’t usually get in, they’re out there to make basketball plays,” Poysden said. “The game could have been packed up and it could have got way out of hand, and they were having fun fighting back and taking their turn.”

PV entered the new year on a four-game win streak before a one-point loss to Boyertown on Friday and Tuesday’s loss to the Rams. Despite going through the first half of division play without a win, the young Vikings should be a tough out for the rest of the Liberty teams down the stretch as they continue to improve.

After a slow start, Spring-Ford, which is currently ranked No. 12 in the District 1-6A power rankings, looks well-positioned for another district playoff appearance and also has eyes on extending its PAC postseason streak to four years.

The Rams start another tough stretch Thursday when they play Norristown, followed by playoff hopefuls Phoenixville and Pottstown in cross division action before getting back to division play against Methacton and Boyertown.

The good thing for the Rams is that they’ve got things rolling heading into the challenging stretch this time around.

“After the first part of the season, we got in a little groove in our practices,” Skrocki said. “We got in a groove, a rhythm. I think we really have it going right now.”