No. 1 Spring-Ford boys basketball punches ticket to PAC championship in double OT thriller over No. 4 Pottstown

ROYERSFORD >> Jacob Nguyen recalled where he was a year ago.

The sophomore point guard was in his own gym, but not on the court where he felt he belonged. He sat with the Spring-Ford boys basketball team watching Methacton and Pope John Paul II duke it out in the Pioneer Athletic Conference championship.

“Our whole team was (watching). We should’ve been in it last year to be honest,” Nguyen said. “But now we’re here and we’re gonna try to win it.”

Last year Spring-Ford was uninvited hosts, which left a bad taste in their mouths that has been a motivating factor ever since.

It’s one of the factors that carried the Rams through their dramatic semifinal with Pottstown Friday night.

The No. 1 seed and PAC Liberty champion Spring-Ford took the best shot of No. 4 Pottstown and came out on the other side of a double overtime thriller, pulling out a 71-66 win on Friday to reach its first conference championship in five years.

FINAL (2OT) — No. 1 Spring-Ford 71, No. 4 Pottstown 66

After missing the PAC tournament last season, top-ranked Spring-Ford fends off the No. 1 offense in the conference in double OT to punch its ticket to the title game.

It’ll be Spring-Ford vs Upper Merion for all the marbles pic.twitter.com/HnHEIVSAeT

— Evan Wheaton (@EvanWheaton) February 11, 2023

The Rams will face Frontier champion No. 2 Upper Merion in the PAC championship Tuesday, Feb. 14 at Spring-Ford, tipoff at 7 p.m.

Nguyen has led Spring-Ford (21-2) in scoring this season with 14.9 points per game, and with the heat turned up against a Trojans (15-8) squad hot on their heels all night, the 6-foot-4 underclassman put up a game-high 26. Junior guard EJ Campbell finished with 19 points.

“Pottstown is a really good team. Their defense is really good, a couple of their players are extremely good,” Nguyen said. “We just worked together and we had a great game plan. Great job by coach (Joe Dempsey), each and every player.”

Up 66-64 with 11 seconds left in the second overtime period, Rams guard Caleb Little iced the game with a pair at the free throw line. Little’s free throws were anything but his namesake, especially after missing a couple in the initial overtime frame to keep Pottstown within reach to rally from seven down and force a second overtime on Abdul Jackson’s buzzer-beating layup.

The Rams took care of business in the second overtime at the line, Little going 3-for-4 as S-F outscored Pottstown 8-3 in the deciding period.

“I don’t know how I go to school on Monday,” Little said.

Altogether, Spring-Ford shot a devastating 33-of-45 at the free throw line.

The PAC semifinal was a clash of different titans with the Rams being the PAC’s leading defense (43.7 ppg allowed) while Pottstown features the league’s highest-octane offense (PAC-best 60 ppg).

Against Spring-Ford’s steel curtain defense and on the Rams’ own court, Elliot-Moore led the Trojans with 16 points and Abdul Jackson had 12. Sadeeq Jackson put up 11 while Jurrell Young (14 points) and Terryece Phillips (10 points) both scored double figures as well.

“We put a 60-burger on them. We can score the ball, but we don’t get stops, we don’t secure rebounds on that end. That hurts you,” Pottstown coach Ken Ivory said. “A lot of second-chance point opportunities, fouled up on the loose balls and things like that, ball rolls out of bounds, they keep the possession and get a bucket, it’s gonna hurt you when you play a team in their house.”

Staring into the jaws of defeat — down 63-61 with eight seconds left in the first overtime — Abdul Jackson took the ball coast to coast after a Spring-Ford bucket and hit a layup to beat the buzzer and put the Trojans on life support.

BRO!

Abdul Jackson flies down court and ties it 63-63 at the buzzer!

For the second time tonight, DOUBLE OVERTIME!!!!! pic.twitter.com/yYpCXm8mv7

— Evan Wheaton (@EvanWheaton) February 11, 2023

But as both teams were thinning their ranks in foul-outs, Sadeeq and Abdul Jackson reached their fifth fouls respectively in the waning minutes of the night.

“Fouling out Abdul and Sadeeq was huge for us,” Little said. “We just had to lock in on the defensive end and get buckets on offense.”

The last time Spring-Ford won the PAC championship was during the 2015-16 season. Ranked No. 1 in District 1 Class 6A after riding a 20-game win streak, the Rams have all the makings to dance with Upper Merion in the latter’s first PAC title game appearance since joining the conference in 2017.

Pottstown — ranked No. 6 in District 1-5A — is in the midst of a complete turnaround season. After finishing 6-16 overall last year, the Trojans nearly reached the PAC championship after a 10-year drought of competing in the tournament.

The Trojans await the District 1 bracket’s release as they hope to carry on further into what’s been a magical year for Pottstown basketball.

“We hope we don’t lick our wounds for too long,” Ivory said. “We have a lot to play for. Win a couple games in districts, qualify for states for the first time in God knows how long, that’s what you take from it. The chance to play basketball.”

Spring-Ford 71, Pottstown 66 (2OT)