Whether it was the early start time, the second game in less than 24 hours, Perk Valley's sticky defense, and/or the Vikings plodding offense, the Upper Perk boys

basketball team fell to the visitors in a lethargic 47-38 loss on Tuesday in a game moved to four o'clock because of snow in the forecast.

            The Indians managed only 15 first half points, five in the second quarter, trailed at the half by eight and never held a lead after the first quarter.

            The Vikings (8-7, 1-3) effectively took Upper Perk out of any offensive rhythm with a defense that featured constant full-court pressure on point guard Liam Boyle.

            "They play hard-nosed defense. We kind of played into it," Upper Perk coach Jared Krupp noted after the game.

"They know that Liam's our point guard, and he's our general. Our offense pretty much starts with him, and they really put the face-guard on him."

            Tuesday was not the first time opposing teams have used this defensive strategy against Upper Perk. "There are different sets that we can run," Krupp said. "We didn't execute too well."

            It did not help that Boyle was playing on a sore ankle, rolled last week against Spring-Ford. He was held out of Monday's non-league contest against Antietam.

            Boyle ended up scoring eleven points second-half points, eight in the third quarter, as the Tribe did get back into a 32-32 deadlock with 6:36 left in the game.

            Bo Duka scored the bucket that tied the game after an artful pass from Boyle but missed the free throw that could have given the Tribe the lead.

            The Vikings quickly ran off five straight points, all by Carson Parke (game-high 14 points) on identical turnaround jumpers in the paint, adding a free throw after the second bucket for a 37-32 lead.

            Will Walker tapped in a Ryan Kendra miss before exchanging free throws with Parke to make the score 38-35 with 3:43 remaining.

            After an Upper Perk turnover, the Vikings methodically worked the ball around until the Tribe was forced to foul. Kevin Bernabe and Andrew Light converted both ends of one-and-ones, and when Bernabe stole the inbounds pass, after an Upper Perk timeout, and raced the length of the court for a lay-up to make the score 44-35, the game was essentially over.

            Another factor in the loss was the neutralization of Kendra, the Tribe's top scorer. After scoring eight of Upper Perk's ten points in the first period, Kendra finished the game with only twelve points, shooting 2 for 14 after the initial quarter.

            Perk Valley got a lift from Conner McShea, who came off the bench in the second quarter to score all eight of his points and add some energy. One play involving McShea epitomized the Tribe's one-step-too-slow afternoon.

            Halfway through the quarter, McShea missed a jumper to the right of the foul line but raced, unimpeded, to the rim and put back his own miss with a lay-up to give the Vikings a five-point lead.

            The Tribe was coming off a non-league 62-50 win at Antietam on Monday, significant because it snapped a two-game losing streak and because Walker set a school record with 25 rebounds.

Walker also contributed 15 points as Upper Perk doubled up Antietam to lead 36-18 at the half. Kendra led the Tribe with 19 points.

In PAC competition, the Tribe (10-4, 4-0)  has now lost three straight, all against the larger schools in the Liberty Division.

"As bummed as we are that we lost against those big schools, we hung with them, and none of the other teams on our side of the conference have beat the big schools," Krupp observed.

"So, we're going to push on and move past that, and we're going to learn from each of these games."