Ugly start, fantastic finish
Parkland didn’t score until 40 seconds were left in first quarter but dominated from there in 45-39 semifinal win over Northampton
Down 15-0 to Northampton late in the first quarter of Monday night’s District 11 Class 6A boys semifinal at PPL Center, Parkland could have pushed the panic button.
Instead, they realized it was just a matter of making shots.
They made more than their share the rest of the way in rallying for a 45-39 victory that will send Parkland, winners of nine straight, to the 6A championship game at 8 p.m. Thursday back at the PPL Center.
It will be the Trojans’ first appearance in the final since 2017 when they also won a semifinal game at PPL Center. Parkland has won eight district titles, but none since a four-year championship run ended in 2016.
“The key was just for them not to give up,” Trojans coach Andy Stephens said. “We called two early timeouts, which we really don’t like to do. We try to save timeouts. But they needed reassurance that the game certainly wasn’t over. I just wanted them to understand that it wasn’t to turn around in a minute or two. It was going to take some
time to come back.”
J.T. Siggins got the Trojans going with an inside basket and Jake McLean followed with two foul shots to make it 15-4 after one quarter.
Northampton was still up 19-7 midway through the second period when Parkland took over the game. The Trojans scored the last eight points of the first half and the first six of the third quarter to go up 21-19.
The Konkrete Kids managed one more lead at 23-21, but Parkland senior Trey Rolle hit a 3-pointer and then fed Matt Bauer for another trey to make it 28-23.
Trailing 30-28 after three quarters, Northampton didn’t score in the final stanza until Joe Kerbacher made two free throws with 4:27 left. By then, Parkland was up by nine.
“We had a great start,” said Konkrete Kids coach Coy Stampone, whose team finished 8-3. “But then we got away from our fundamentals. We weren’t doing all of the things that we drill in practice and we settled for one pass and a shot instead of moving the ball around. The things that got us up 15-0 we got away from. Give Parkland credit because they banged the boards hard and hit some big-time shots and also some foul shots.”
Northampton got 16 points from Isaac Harris and 15 from Lucas Lesko, two juniors who figure to make the K-Kids one of the area’s top teams in 2021-22.
However in order to extend this season, Northampton needed others to step up and the K-Kids got just eight points from someone other than Harris and Lesko and no one else had a field goal in the second half.
“My guys played their hearts out, though,” Stampone said. “What a season. If someone would have told me before the season we would have played 10 regular-season games, shared the [Eastern Pennsylvania Conference] Northampton County division title with Easton and played in the district semifinals at the PPL Center, I would have taken it.”
But it’s Parkland (13-3) who is in position to take the district championship.
Rolle finished with 10 points and six rebounds and Bauer added eight points and six rebounds. Freshman standout Nick Coval was held scoreless in the first quarter, but was instrumental in the rally with six points in both the second and third periods and finished with 14.
“As a senior I knew this could be my last game, so I wanted to take the team over,” Rolle said. “We just weren’t hitting shots and were leaving people open with our hands down. We just needed to pick it up and fight through adversity.”
Stephens said he was pleased with his defense and Rolle.
“We had to keep grinding defensively because offensively it wasn’t one of our better nights,” he said. “Trey is such an incredible athlete and a good player who gives us experience. We just remind him to do what you’re good at doing. He has been doing such a good job of being locked in and focused on winning. He wants to enjoy this. There’s a senior who was cherishing the moment.”