City of Basketball Love

Corky Blake (@corkyblake)
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HELLERTOWN — Tyler Scarpulla’s role with the Devon Prep boys basketball team this season evolved from starter to sixth man.

“I started the first five or six games and then Coach (Jason Fisher) wanted me to bring energy off the bench,” said Scarpulla, a 5-foot-11 senior guard. “My playing time wasn’t any different … and I started Senior Night, so it’s been about six or seven starts.”

When 6-4 sophomore starter Zane Conlon suffered an ankle injury in a recent practice, Fisher inserted Scarpulla back into the starting lineup for Saturday afternoon’s PIAA Class 3A first-round game at District 11 runner-up Saucon Valley.

Scarpulla brought that same sixth-man energy from the opening tap along with dead-eye shooting from 3-point range to spark the defending 3A state champion to an easy 77-50 victory in Hellertown that improved defending state champ Devon Prep to 12-12. The recent Immaculata University commit was 6-for-7 from beyond the arc to lead the Tide with 20 points. 

Devon Prep finished with 16 3s, including three from sophomore Shane Doyle (16 points) and two from Army West Point recruit Jacen Holloway (17 points).

“With Zane’s injury, I knew I had to step up,” Scarpulla said.

Devon Prep’s next step in returning to Hershey comes Wednesday against District 2 runner-up Mid-Valley (20-6), a 62-42 victor over District 4 champion Troy.

The Tide is finally back playing games on a regular basis. It was playing just its second game since losing to West Catholic in its regular-season finale on Feb. 12. It defeated SLA Beeber in the District 12 third-place game on Feb. 28.

“We gave the kids a week off (at the end of the regular season); we didn’t want them in the gym, and the coaches had a week off, too,” Devon Prep coach Jason Fisher said. “When we returned, it was like another preseason with conditioning and all that.”

Saucon Valley, boosted by its home crowd, hung tough early and trailed 10-8 with 4:48 left in the opening quarter. At this point, Devon Prep unleashed a vicious halfcourt trapping man defense and began raining 3-pointers on the Panthers (21-8).

The Tide quickly tallied the next 14 points starting with 3s from Scarpulla, senior reserve Duke Harrer and Holloway. A brief Saucon Valley spurt drew the Panthers to 28-14 entering the second quarter.

But Devon Prep disoriented Saucon’s defense with its transition game and sharing the ball. The Tide dropped in five more of its 10 first-half 3s in the first four minutes of the second quarter to build a 45-18 advantage and settle the outcome. Holloway started the run of treys followed by one from Doyle, two straight from Scarpulla and one from junior point guard Ty Mishock (nine points).

“I liked the way we played with energy and sense of purpose,” Fisher said. “The Catholic League beats you up, and we’re not the most athletic team, so today was an opportunity for our guys to just go out and play basketball.”

“We’ve been working in practice on pace and tempo,” Scarpulla said. “We’ve been running a lot of sets, but we like to push the ball and we got back to that.”

“They’re very, very well-coached,” said Saucon Valley first-year coach Brett Snyder, who led his program to its best season in a decade. “They get offensive looks in transition and they never force anything. They play a Villanova-style of basketball with the dribble penetration and kick to the open shooter. Their kids have very high basketball IQs.”

They also listen to their coaches.

Doyle said as a sophomore his role is to do what he does best – passing and defense and facilitate scoring opportunities for his teammates. Against Saucon Valley, he received additional instructions.

“(Assistant) Coach (Matt) O’Hara wanted me to be more aggressive on offense. He said he wanted me to shoot at least five 3s today,” said Doyle, who played on the junior varsity with Conlon last season.

Doyle came up one attempt shy of O’Hara’s target, and that was primarily because he didn’t play in the fourth quarter. He was 3-for-4 from beyond the arc.

Holloway scored 15 of his 17 points in the first half and was content to rebound and collect assists during a second half that was played mostly with a mercy rule running clock. 

“We worked hard in practice on a game plan to put pressure on them,” Holloway said. “We knew the way we play is very different than what they are used to, and we wanted to make them super uncomfortable.

“We’ve been refocused on ourselves for the state championship run. We want to improve on what we do.”

Holloway also confirmed he remains committed to Army West Point, which fired head coach Jimmy Allen on Wednesday after a loss to Colgate in the Patriot League semifinals.

“I just talked to (an Army assistant coach), and I’m still going there,” Holloway said.

DEVON PREP (77)

Scarpulla 7 0-0 20, L. Orchard 2 0-0 5, Doyle 6 1-2 16, Holloway 6 3-4 17, Mishock 3 2-3 9, Kamara 0 0-0 0, Oakes 0 0-0 0, Regan 1 0-0 3, Harrer 1 0-2 3, Costello 0 0-0 0, D’Iorio 0 0-0 0, Craft 1 1-2 4, Perullo 0 0-0 0, Z. Orchard 0 0-0 0. Totals 27 7-13 77.

SAUCON VALLEY (50)

Magnotta 2 1-2 5, Albert 0 2-2 2, Robertson 4 3-5 11, Klotz 2 0-1 4, Joseph-Davis 3 4-6 10, Weiss 2 0-0 5, Donahue 2 1-2 5, Clark 2 0-0 5, Thompson 1 0-0 3, Walsh 0 0-0 0, Thakkar 0 0-0 0, Grim 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 11-18 50.

Devon Prep (12-12) 28 23 19 77

Saucon Valley (21-8) 14 11 7 18 50

3-point goals: Scarpulla 6, Doyle 3, Holloway 2, L. Orchard, Z. Orchard, Draft, Harrer, Regan; Weiss, Clark, Thompson.

Shooting

Devon Prep: 27-59 FGA, 16-36 3PT, 7-13 FT

Saucon Valley: 18-38 FGA, 3-8 3PT, 11-18 FT