City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
––

SPRINGFIELD — T.J. Valletti just wasn’t going to let Springfield (Delco.) lose. 

That’s the only logical conclusion one could draw from watching the Cougars’ junior guard go to work against Lower Merion on Wednesday night. 

When Lower Merion went up double-digits in the second quarter, it was Valletti who sparked the big run to get Springfield back up a point at halftime. And when the Aces held a four-point lead in the final minutes of the fourth quarter, it was Valletti who found another gear, making one spectacular play after another, including the game-winning free-throw to lift the Cougars to a 53-52 triumph. 

“It was awesome,” Valetti told CoBL. “The atmosphere, the back-and-forth game, it felt like a playoff game, especially playing against a team like that, with the history that they have, we came into this game knowing it was going to be hyped up and we came in with a good attitude, just played together and it feels good getting a win.”

A 6-foot-1 left-hander with a nonstop motor, Valletti finished with 14 points, six rebounds, eight assists and five steals for Springfield, which improved to 16-1 overall and 10-1 in the Central League as it won its 12th straight game. 

In the final two minutes alone, he: converted a 3-point play to put Springfield up 48-47; leaped for a lead-saving block on a Lower Merion layup the next time down the court; grabbed that rebound, sped up the court and found sophomore Will Carr for a layup; jumped a baseline pass for another steal; and finally, after Lower Merion tied it on a 3-pointer by Bereket Darsenie with 18 seconds remaining, worked the ball up the court and drew contact, getting to the line with 2.3 seconds remaining. 

His final moment of heroism had to wait an extra second, after he came up short on the first one. The second found nothing but net. 

“[I was thinking] ‘don’t airball it, ‘but then I did,” he said. “And the second one, I just forgot about the first one. Just knew it was a new shot — that’s all I told myself, it’s a new shot.”

A third-year starter and three-sport star who also helped Springfield to a district championship in football this fall, Valletti sets the tone for the Cougars, who start three seniors but turn to their junior captain when they need a big play or an emotional boost. 

“Oh, TJ’s the best,” senior wing Peter Altes said. “TJ’s going out there hitting people [with passes], getting rebounds, keeping us in the game, keeping our heads in the game. He’s just a great teammate.”

“That steal on the crosscourt pass was huge, the blocked shot was huge,” Springfield coach Kevin McCormick said. “So yeah, he just has unbelievable instincts. I’m just glad I get to coach him, you know?”

Altes contributed 12 points, six rebounds, two assists and four steals. He also came up with big plays late, including a steal with 1:15 left and his team up three where he knocked the ball loose, then dove on the floor and got the rock to a teammate. That play resulted in classmate Tom Toomey knocking down two at the line with a minute left to put Springfield up five. 

Lower Merion (11-5, 7-4) rallied, getting a put-back bucket from junior guard Kyle Parris (11 points, 7 assists, 4 steals) to cut it to three, before forcing a turnover and tying it up on the 3-pointer by Darsenie (8 points). 

They just couldn’t stop Valletti one final time. 

“TJ, although he only had 14 points, controlled many aspects of the game,” LM coach Gregg Downer said. “He’s a good passer, got a lot of steals. Got the free throw that won the game or we’d be standing here right now in overtime.

“They made some big plays when they needed to, and a little bit uncharacteristically we had 17 turnovers, and that’s just not winning basketball. We haven’t really been doing that much, but it was not good, and I thought they got a lot of the 50/50 balls.”

Carr, Springfield’s 6-6 sophomore forward and burgeoning star, led the way with 20 points, adding seven rebounds, an assist and a steal to his night. But much of his production came on open looks at the rim — a result of his ability to move without the ball, to be sure, but also with a lot of credit to Valletti’s ability to draw so much defensive attention and then find Carr open around the rim, the two connecting for at least five or six of Valletti’s assists. 

“His touch around the rim is great,” Valletti said, “so I know I can trust him as soon as I get him the ball any way I can get it to him, he’s going to finish.

“This year, [having] him, it’s a huge difference,” he added. “He’s such a problem for other teams, it opens up so much stuff for us.”

WIll Carr (32) led Springfield (Delco.) with 20 points. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Lower Merion got 16 points and seven rebounds from sophomore guard Israel Ingram, who hit two 3-pointers in both the first and third quarters, which saw Lower Merion get off to hot starts in both halves. 

The Aces led by as many as 21-9 in the second quarter before Springfield closed the first half on a 15-2 run to take a one-point lead into the break. Lower Merion went up as many as eight in the third quarter, but a 3-point play by Altes, a 3-pointer by Valletti and five points from Carr helped Springfield keep it at a five-point gap entering the fourth.

“We weren’t worried at all,” Altes said. “We knew if we just did our thing, we’d come back and we started a little slow in the first half, we just knew we had to fix a couple mistakes and we’d be fine.”

Beating Lower Merion means Springfield went 6-0 against the 6A schools in the Central League, which doesn’t have outright divisions but has the 12 teams playing uneven schedules based on enrollment size. McCormick, who’s in his 32nd year at the Cougars’ helm - just a few years less than Downer - couldn’t remember doing that since the league moved to its current format in 2008. 

Springfield’s only loss thus far came to Central League leader Penncrest, the Lions winning 51-36 on their home court in December. The rematch is a week away — Thursday, Jan. 29 — though both teams have three games to play before then. 

“We haven’t talked [about] record or schedule, not at all,” McCormick said. “It hasn’t been brought up once. We’re now talking about Marple Newtown. It fits us well, it keeps us focused. 

“That’s what makes them successful, they don’t get caught up in who’s two weeks from now and what have we accomplished. We haven’t accomplished anything. When we’re done Friday night, we’ll start worrying about Strath Haven and right on down the line. I know it’s a cliche, and with this group it’s really true, they don’t get caught up in it at all.”

By Quarter
Springfield:        9   |  15  |  14  |  15  ||  53
Lower Merion:  16  |   7   |  20  |   9   ||  52

Shooting
Springfield: 19-42 FG (4-15 3PT), 11-18 FT
Lower Merion: 22-48 FG (8-24 3PT), 0-1 FT

Scoring
Springfield: Will Carr 20, TJ Valletti 14, Peter Altes 12, Tom Toomey 5, Mason Ellis 2

Lower Merion: Israel Ingram 16, Kyle Parrish 11, Bereket Darsenie 8, Darius Mitchell 7, Will Yard 6, Nick Dragut 2, Finn Pulsifer 2