Lapetina, Perkiomen Valley grind out 56-52 OT win over Pennridge

GRATERFORD >> Missed free throws can be quite infuriating.

Made free throws, conversely, can be a source of indescribable joy … especially when they factor in a winning finish.

Such was the case for Perkiomen Valley Tuesday, when it hosted Pennridge in a District 1-6A second-round playoff game. The Vikings were a subpar 5-for-11 from the line on the night, but 3-for-4 efficiency inside the final minute of overtime helped lift them to a 56-52 overtime victory over the Rams and continued post-season life in this pandemic-impacted campaign.

Tyler Lapetina made the second of two tries as part of his 28-point night for a 54-49 lead Pennridge (13-6) reduced with Luke Yoder’s 3-pointer 27 seconds before the end of OT. Dawson Debebe then stepped up for PV, sinking two from the line at the 11-second mark before rebounding a Ram shot and bringing it upcourt to run out the clock.

The fifth-seeded Vikings (12-3) move on to Friday’s quarterfinal round, where they’ll visit No. 4 Garnet Valley, a Tuesday winner over Upper Dublin. Pennridge, in turn, headed home at the conclusion of a season that marked their eighth straight of playoff qualification.

“That’s something we’ve definitely got to hit in practice,” said Lapetina, the PACs’ leading scoring leader at 19.1 points per game. “We got to the line plenty of time.”

“We got free throws that were big enough,” PV head coach Mike Poysden added, “but there were so many (shots) that were open we didn’t get. But we were able to grind out a happy ending and keep playing.”

Pennridge, fueled by the respective 18- and 17-point showings of Colin Post and Luke Yoder, forced overtime when Post hit a basket and PV’s subsequent trip back up the floor ended with Lapetina missing from 3-point range, resulting in a 47-47 tie.

In the OT frame, Lapetina and Kameron Parks (13 points) combined for six points around Post’s final field goal for a 53-49 lead that survived Yoder’s 3 and a pair of misses on the front end of 1-and-1 opportunities.

“I thought the third quarter hit us hard,” Pennridge head coach Dean Behrens said of PV’s six-point run that padded a 17-16 halftime edge. “But our mental toughness got us to overtime.”

Trailing 34-30 going into the fourth, the Rams mounted their own six-point run with Yoder sandwiching buckets around one by Post in the first two minutes. The rest of the frame turned into a foot race with seven lead changes and three ties.

“It was dicey there,” Poysden admitted. “Pennridge is a well-coached team. We knew we couldn’t make mistakes against them.

“We did better in the second half. It was nice to grind through it.”

The biggest lead of the night was the 32-24 advantage Perk Valley held after Ethan Kohler laid up a stolen ball with 2:08 left in the second quarter.

But Yoder and Justin Nichols hit buckets to halve the deficit, with an exchange between Kohler and Yoder closing out the quarter.

“It was a very tight game,” Lapetina said. “They (Rams) had a lot of intensity. Post and Yoder competed.”

In his final huddle with the team, Behrens focused on the contributions of his seniors — Yoder, Post and Colin Monahan (six points) among them.

“I talked about the six seniors I’ve coached the last four years,” he said. “It was big for the younger kids to see those guys not just in games, but in practices.”

PV continued a surge that’s seen it win 12 of 13 after starting the season 0-2, and a current nine-game win streak.

“We believe in quick starts, and then settling into our work,” Poysden said of PV’s start to the third quarter. “We came out in the second half, making defensive stops and rebounding.”

NOTES >> Behrens on his team’s tendency for turnovers: “We like to be 10 or under in turnovers for a game. We didn’t do that.” … Pennridge’s scoring all came from its starters, Matt Campo contributed nine to the showing.