There have been times this year when Upper Perk's boys basketball team came up short on the scoreboard, but still showed intensity and improvement.

        Tuesday night's 67-48 loss at Boyertown definitely fell into that category for head coach Jared Krupp and company.

        Upper Perk, which has played tough at times throughout the season, but hasn't consistently been able to put it together for four quarters, was up to the test against the Bears. The Indians trailed 12-9 after the first quarter and kept it to a manageable 33-22 deficit at the break.

        "I want to really praise our players for playing with an intensity and energy in tonight's game," Krupp said, now in his third year. "Boyertown has a solid group of ball players, and our student athletes played with a passion and never backed down throughout the entire contest."

        A big reason behind Upper Perk's success was the sophomore tandem of Ryan Kendra and Liam Boyle. Kendra, who came into the game fourth in the Pioneer Athletic Conference in scoring with 15.7 points per game, put up a game-high 20 points to go along with seven rebounds.

        Boyle, who is in the top 10 in the league in three-pointers, finished 2 of 4 from beyond the arc as part of a 15-point night as he shot 60 percent from the field. Kendra and Boyle accounted for nearly 73 percent of Upper Perk's offense, as Ryan Sitko (six points), Dylan Croissette (five points) and Christian Zera (two points) rounded out the scoring.   

        "I was really happy to see how hard our guys worked on both ends of the floor," Krupp said. "Kendra and Sitko tallied seven boards, and Croissette and (Tyler) Whary both grabbed six, and those are hard-work stats. Liam Boyle scored 15 and I feel got himself out of a shooting slump and Kendra continues to pace our team in the scoring column."

        The win over Upper Perk snapped a three-game slide for the Bears, who pushed their record to 4-2, 8-4 overall. They got a balanced offensive effort from four players who finished in double digits, led by Ben Longacre's 15 points. Eric Spohn tallied 14, Jerry Kapp finished with 13 and Marcus Thomas posted 11.

        Krupp said the difference for Boyertown was its ability to get a needed bucket when necessary. After keeping the game close in the first quarter, Boyertown used an 11-0 run to close out the half that helped the Bears create an 11-point cushion. Upper Perk (0-6, 2-10) rebounded in the third quarter offensively with three-pointers on back-to-back possessions from Boyle and Croissette, but Boyertown still managed to hold a 47-35 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

        On Monday, Upper Perk traveled to Sellersville to take on Faith Christian Academy and came away with a 64-35 loss. Upper Perk took an early lead to start, but couldn't hold on from there in a game played in front of a packed house. The Lions' up-tempo game, size advantage and speed staked the home team out to a 22-7 lead after the first quarter that ballooned to a 38-16 spread at the half.

        Sitko and Kendra led Upper Perk in scoring with nine points apiece as Zeke Hallman chipped in with six and Nolan Graber added five to go along with a team-high nine rebounds.

        The Lions, meanwhile, were paced by a 21-point effort from Chris Clark, with other big help from Zeke Snowdon (13 points) and Landon Coyle (12 points). Danny Schmidt and Addison Woelkers provided solid support from the bench in the second half to secure the victory.

        Upper Perk will close out the week as it travels to Royersford tomorrow night to take on Spring-Ford. The Rams downed Perkiomen Valley, 62-47, Tuesday night and are unbeaten in the PAC-10 at 5-0, 9-4 overall.