By Dennis Weller
Win or lose on Friday night, both the Perkiomen Valley and Haverford boys basketball teams would play in the PIAA Tournament next week. Regardless of the outcome, the Vikings and Fords would face a formidable opponent in the opening round.
So the contest for 11th place in District 1 Class 6A, won by Perk Valley 68-53,vgave both sides a chance to work on plays and get younger players into the game while tuning up for states.
Perkiomen Valley’s torrid shooting in the second quarter led to 24 points and a 16-point lead at the half, and the Vikings were up by at least 12 the rest of the way. Kyle Shawaluk and Julian Sadler each scored 20 for No. 7 seed PV (18-10).
Googie Seidman led the No. 21 Fords (14-13) with 20 points.
Perk Valley will face District 12 champion Roman Catholic. Haverford will play District 3 champion Reading Saturday. Reading High boosted its record to 27-1 with a 55-54 overtime win over Cumberland Valley in the District 3 final.
Both teams had lost on Tuesday, the Vikings dropping a tough 51-50 contest to Coateville, relegating them to the 11-12 game.
A 3-point basket by Brian Wiener (11 points) gave Haverford a 12-11 advantage after a quarter. But Perk Valley shot 8-for-12 from the field, including 3-for-4 from 3-point range by Shawaluk, in the second quarter while the Fords went 3-for-10 and scored only seven points. Joshua Tagert scored all nine of his points in the period for the Vikings.
“We didn’t play well in the second quarter,” said Haverford coach Keith Heinerichs. “We didn’t close out. We didn’t play with the urgency we played with last week.”
The Fords ramped up their defense after the halftime break, forcing six turnovers in the third quarter, with steals and baskets by Wiener and Seidman fueling an 11-1 run that cut the deficit to 47-34 after three.
A basket by Tommy Wright (nine points) closed the gap to 51-39 early in the fourth. But a deuce by Shawaluk. a 3-point play by Sadler and two free throws by Mason Thear broke the game open for good.
The Vikings wound up at 57.5 percent from the floor (23-for-40).
“We were just getting ready, running our sets,” said Shawaluk. “We’re going to need them for the next game. And we got some young guys in.”
The Fords also worked on their game, though not with as much success as the Vikings.
“We definitely worked on a couple things,” Heinerichs said. “They did a better job than us. They out-executed us. They out-worked us.”