Rams run past Pottsgrove
game,” Young said. “We came out ready to play in the first quarter.”
A nine-point run in a 77-second span of the opening frame enabled Spring-Ford (4-1 league, 8-3 overall) to open a 19-7 lead on Pottsgrove. The 10-7 deficit the Falcons (2-3, 3-7) faced prior to that run proved the closest they would be to their guests, who salted their fourth straight win away in a 33-23 second half.
“We gave up too many points in the first quarter,” Pottsgrove head coach Scott Palladino said. “We played better in the second, but we couldn’t cut into their lead.”
Despite shooting just 2-for-9 from the floor in the second period, Spring-Ford came out of the half sporting a 34-24 lead. That was after Pottsgrove cut the Rams’ point cushion down to single digits (26-18) in the opening minutes of the second, Mark Dukes hitting the first of two free throws and Kareem Boyd burying a 3-point basket at the 5:54 mark.
The Rams didn’t show any falloff in rebounding in the second, though the overwhelming 13-2 edge they held in the first became a closer 12-11. They righted the ship in the second half, hitting 61.9 percent (13for-21) from the floor and controlling the boards 17-10.
“This is a tough place to play. It gets really loud here,” Young said. “I was happy we kept our focus.
“We knew they (Pottsgrove) were going to make runs at us. I thought we did a good job rebounding, holding them to one shot.”
Suffice it to say, Spring-Ford had plenty of stars in the scoring department.
Zameer McDowell emerged a point-producing force in the first and third quarters, coming away with a game-high 22 points. At the same time, Nick Stanek and Justin DeLuzio hit for a respective 15 and 13 points, and Josh Tupper added 10 coming off the bench in the first quarter.
McDowell and Stanek ended up with double-doubles, McDowell clearing 14 boards and Stanek 15. McDowell’s point production was a season-best coming off an extended campaign with the school’s football team, which was alive in the District 1 Class AAAA playoffs up to the last day in November.
“He’s fully rounding into basketball shape,” Young said. “It took him longer because of football, but he’s catching his wind and able to go longer stretches.
“He’s obviously important to us.”
Mike Graves emerged as Pottsgrove’s scoring leader with 11 points, followed closely by Kareem Boyd with 10. Tyrone Jeffcoat-Parker chipped in with another eight after entering the game in the second quarter.
“We’re struggling to score points,” Palladino said. “Offensively we did some better things, but we have to get better. I was happier with this offensive effort, but now we have to tighten things on defense.”
NOTES
McDowell took a big step toward reaching the 1,000-point plateau for his scholastic career. He stands at 906 points in his bid to become the Spring-Ford program’s seventh four-digit achiever. ... Pottsgrove showed a different starting lineup from its Dec. 20 game with Pottstown, Boyd and Mike Fowler joined on the floor by Marquise Barefield, Graves and Ryan Klotz in place of Jalen Mayes, Mark Dukes and Aaron Tremble. “We’re trying to find a group to play together,” Palladino said. “We knew SpringFord was going to come out playing a 2-3 (defense), so we went with a smaller lineup to try and be more effective.”