City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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COLLEGEVILLE — All season long, Phoenixville’s boys have kept their eyes on the present as much as possible. But as the wins piled up for a senior-laden team that was the class of the Pioneer Athletic Conference’s Frontier Division, they couldn’t help but start waiting just a little for the postseason, to start to accomplish some bigger goals.

Now that time is here, and the Phantoms are ready.

Phoenixville looked prepared for the moment in the PAC semifinals, racing out to a big lead on Frontier rival Pottstown and cruising to an 80-56 win on Friday night on a neutral court at Perkiomen Valley High School.

That qualifies them for the PAC championship game for the first time in 17 years, last making it there (and winning it all) in 2007. 

“Everyone’s just locked in,” senior wing Max Lebisky said. “There’s nothing else to worry about right now.”

The Phantoms (17-6) got big games from junior wing Deacon Baratta (23 points, 12 rebounds), whose back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers in the first quarter helped break things open early, plus sophomore point guard Dawson Brown (18 points), who made a number of plays at both ends of the floor. 

But the star of the show was Lebisky, Phoenixville’s do-everything 6-foot-4 senior, who nearly compiled a triple-double in a 21-point, 13 rebound (four offensive), eight-assist, four-block, two-steal outing. 

“This was kind of the game that we’ve been waiting for this year, we knew we had that potential with those three guys and the way that they can score,” Phoenixville coach Eric Burnett said. “Deacon, he’s had his moments and Max has obviously had his moments and Dawson’s had his moments, but when all three of them play the way they did tonight with confidence and shooting teh ball basketball, it’s fun to watch and fun to coach, those guys are just really locked in.”

Phoenixville controlled the game from the outset. The Phantoms opened on a 14-0 run as Baratta hit the second of those three straight 3-pointers during a 19-2 opening quarter. 

Pottstown found its legs somewhat during the second, but it was still a 35-15 Phoenixville advantage midway through. The Phantoms scored the first six points out of the second half to push the lead to 26, and got it as high as 29, though they were never able to get it to running-clock territory. 

The Trojans kept up their press defense well into the fourth quarter, allowing them to get within 17 in the final four minutes, but the Phantom lead never felt truly in danger. It helped that they went 27-of-30 from the foul line, including 9-of-10 in the fourth quarter. 

They’ll get Spring-Ford, the defending champs, who beat Perkiomen Valley 57-50 in the second game of the evening. The two met earlier this season, Spring-Ford emerging with a 72-65 win at Spring-Ford back on Dec. 21. The Rams are without junior wing Matt Zollers (foot), a key part of their attack, but still have guards Jacob Nguyen and E.J. Campbell, one of the top scoring duos in all of District 1, and a terrific coach in Joe Dempsey.

“Jacob, he’s a knockdown shooter, you can’t leave him open, EJ’s a really good player [too],” Lebisky said. “Just gotta keep doing our thing, trust our game, that’s what it comes down to.”

By Quarter
Pottstown:     2   |  13  |  15  |  26  ||  56
Phoenixville: 19  |  16  |  24  |  21  ||  80

Shooting
Pottstown: 21-56 FG (5-17 3PT), 9-15 FT
Phoenixville: 24-47 FG (5-14 3PT), 27-30 FT

Scoring
Pottstown: Abdul Jackson 20, Sadeeq Jackson 16, Nahzier Booker 10, Dilon Mayes 6, Jurell Young 4

Phoenixville: Deacon Baratta 23, Max Lebisky 21, Dawson Brown 18, Aidan McClintock 8, Keron Booth 6, Brady O’Donnell 2, Christian Cervino 2

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Spring-Ford comes back to top Perkiomen Valley

It was only back on Feb. 1 that Perkiomen Valley and Spring-Ford met on PV’s court, the visiting Rams beating the Vikings by nine in the regular-season finale to earn the Liberty Division title. A week and a day later, they did it again — all that was different were the uniforms, and the places on the scoreboard. 

With Spring-Ford technically the ‘home’ team as the top seed in the league, the Rams overcame a raucous environment and a rough shooting night to come out with a 57-50 win to make it back to the PAC title game.

“You always hear it’s hard to beat a team three times, and it is,” Spring-Ford coach Joe Dempsey said. “We have so much respect for their program and they’re a senior-laden team, Julian Sadler’s a terrific player [...] They have so much grit and Mike [Poysden]’s one of the best coaches in our league, so we knew we’d have our hands full.”

A 23-point from Jacob Nguyen powered the Rams (18-5) through a slow start from the floor, the 6-3 junior guard the only one on his team in double figures. 

Nguyen, who only scored five points in his team’s win last week, missed his first three shots in the first quarter but a three-point play early in the second got him going; he knocked down a 3-pointer, then got to the rim again for another 3-point play, helping Spring-Ford go from an 11-5 deficit after one quarter to an 18-18 tie at the break. He added a couple more 3-pointers in the third quarter and six points in the fourth, including 4-of-4 from the foul line to help seal the win; he also added four rebounds and two assists.

“I haven’t been playing my best lately on the offensive side,” the Division I recruit said. “This game really helped boost my confidence. I really wanted this all for the seniors, I did not want to lose this game. EJ [Campbell], Delly [Jake Dellangelo], they all deserve this and I want to win a PAC chip for them.”

Perk Valley won the third quarter 19-18, getting five points from star guard Julian Sadler (17 points) and a triple from forward Josh target (15 points). It wasn’t until the fourth quarter that Spring-Ford finally pulled ahead, a triple from Dellangelo and a couple layups from junior Jordan Marsilio (9 points, 5 rebounds) helping break the game open.

Campbell, the other half of the Rams’ dangerous guard duo, had a frustrating first half as he failed to score on six shots. But his eight points in the second were all big, including a feed from Oben Mokonchu on a backdoor cut to make it a 49-41 lead with three minutes to play; he also added five rebounds and three assists. 

Without junior Matt Zollers (foot), the margin of error has gotten slimmer for Spring-Ford, which might not be able to handle another 5-of-19 day from the 3-point arc and still come away victorious on Tuesday. They’re well aware of the challenge the Phantoms pose, Phoenixville coming in on a six-game win streak.

“We know Lebisky’s a force, Baratta’s a very good shooter, Dawson’s a very good point guard and they have other key pieces to their team that we’ve got to pay attention to,” Nguyen said. 

“They’re playing really well,” Dempsey said. “They’re big, they’re thick, they’re well-coached, they have all the pieces. We’ll have our hands full; we’ll be ready and hopefully we’ll see what happens.”

By Quarter
Spring-Ford:   5   |  13  |  18  |  21  ||  57
Perk Valley:   11  |   7   |  19  |  13  ||  50

Shooting
Spring-Ford: 22-49 FG (5-19 3PT), 8-9 FT
Perk Valley: 16-39 FG (8-22 3PT), 10-13 FT

Scoring
Spring-Ford: Jacob Nguyen 23, Jordan Marsilio 9, EJ Campbell 8, Jake Dellangelo 6, Oben Mokonchu 6, Tommy Kelly 5

Perk Valley:Julian Sadler 17, Josh Tagert 15, Jakob Harken 7, Ryan Murphy 6, Kyle Shawaluk 3, Anthony Rodriguez 2