It was a great four-day run for the Parkland High School boys basketball team in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference Tournament. The third-seeded Trojans defeated sixth-seeded Northampton 56-37 last Friday night at Parkland High School and then three nights later, took care of defending district and state champion and second-seeded Central Catholic 52-49 last Monday evening at the PPL Center.

Parkland (17-7 overall) has been up-and-down all season, mostly up. The Trojans have been inconsistent and have lost head scratchers, but have also won some important, statement games. None of their wins was bigger than the last two in the postseason.

There was no conference tournament last year due to the pandemic, so a large majority of the Trojans were playing in their first EPC playoff games, including sophomore leading scorer Nick Coval.

Coval scored a game-high 17 points against the Kids and was aided by his running mate Will Meeker, who added 14. Meeker’s three-pointer on Parkland’s opening possession of the game got the scoring going and gave the Trojans an early lead, one which they would not relinquish.

“We knew we were going to get open shots, but I thought we played smart as far as who was shooting the ball and where we were getting the ball on the court,” said head coach Andy Stephens. “You always get scared when we really struggle offensively and our shots aren’t going in. But our effort has been consistent, so if we can find a way to tough it out and stay in games and convert on the offensive end, we have a chance to be pretty good.”

It was the third matchup of the year between the two teams with the Trojans winning all three. They have had Northampton’s number of late, especially in big games. Parkland defeated the Kids in the District 11 6A semifinals last year.

Northampton (16-7) had been playing its best basketball of late, winners of 13 of their last 14 games. But they took their second loss to Parkland in that span, being held to just 25 points through three quarters of play.

Parkland hasn’t won a conference title since 2016 and has it’s chance with just one more victory. The Trojans take on fifth-seeded Nazareth, upset winners over fourth-seeded Bethlehem Catholic in the quarterfinals and top seed Pocono Mountain West in the semis. The final is set for Thursday night at PPL Center at 8:00 p.m.

“We got a lot of contributions from a lot of different players,” Stephens said. “Matt Bauer was great again tonight. He had 10 rebounds and was on their best player, Isaac Harris, all night and did a great job against him. He doesn’t get a lot of praise, but he works hard and you need guys like that.”