Hokanson, Spring-Ford come up big against Owen J. Roberts

ROYERSFORD >> Moments before his five starters took the court to begin the second half, Spring-Ford head coach Chris Talley gave his players an ultimatum.

Two minutes to prove themselves, or they’d find a nice, comfortable spot on the bench next to him.

Think the Rams got the message?

Loud and clear.

Sparked by Austin Hokanson’s 14-point third quarter, Spring-Ford used a momentous second half to turn a two-point halftime deficit into a 68-52 win over Pioneer Athletic Conference foe Owen J. Roberts on Thursday night inside Ram Gymnasium

“We challenged them at halftime,” Talley said afterward of his message to his players, “to pick up the defensive intensity, to pick up the energy. And they did. That was a huge third quarter for us.”

The win brings Spring-Ford to 4-1 in the PAC’s Liberty Division and 8-3 overall while Owen J. Roberts falls to 1-4 in the PAC and 3-7 overall.

With OJR’s junior big-man Dawson Stuart sidelined battling an ankle injury, Hokanson had a day in the paint for Spring-Ford. The junior forward racked up a game-high 30 points and grabbed 13 boards to go along with three blocked shots. No matter who the Wildcats put on him, Hokanson proved to be too big, too elusive underneath the basket, wearing the OJR defense down during the first half and finding ways to capitalize during the second.

“We’re confident in Austin, (Robert) Bobeck and (Noah) Baker down in the paint,” said Talley. “That’s something we wanted to emphasize coming into this one.”

“It took some time, but we got our energy and our intensity up during the second half,” Hokanson said. “We talked about it at halftime and knew we’d need to step up.”

Noah Baker followed with 14 points while Ryan Fitzpatrick chipped in with 11, knocking down a 3-pointer during the decisive third quarter.

After trailing 30-28 at the half, the Rams eventually pulled even and took their first lead of the night at 35-34 on a 3-pointer from Nestor Diaz (eight points) three minutes into the third.

Spring-Ford ended the third on a five-minute 19-7 run, an amount that proved to be insurmountable for the Wildcats. For the second half, Spring-Ford out-scored its visitors 40-22.

“We played well almost the whole game, we just couldn’t sustain our early runs,” said OJR head coach Kevin Kirby. “The difference in the game tonight was a team that plays well at their speed and a team that’s trying to play well at that speed. We do it in glimpses and stretches, but we’re still getting there.”

Senior guard Bobby Walker was lethal from deep, knocking down four 3-pointers en route to a team-high 21 points for Owen J. Roberts. Scrappy junior shooting guard Sean Praweckyj followed with 10 points.

Kirby was quick to point out, though, his team was handcuffed without Dawson’s presence in the paint.

“Certainly without Dawson, there were certain things we weren’t able to do with only one guy down low,” said Kirby. “We know he’s chomping at the bit to get back and we’re looking forward to getting him back soon.”

All Starts With Graterford

Spring-Ford is now riding a four-game win streak, their last loss a 74-46 tilt against Perkiomen Valley before Christmas break.

“That’s really been motivating for us,” said Hokanson, referencing that loss. “You go in thinking you can hang with those guys, and they blow off the top against us at our place. That was a tough loss. The fact that we’re playing better and winning by double digits is a good sign for us. I can’t wait to face them (Perk Valley) again.”

Similarly, OJR’s lone conference win was against Perk Valley, a 54-43 surprise victory over the Vikings in mid-December.