BOYS BASKETBALL: Phoenixville improves to 8-1 as Baratta, Lear help Phantoms take down Perk Valley

PHOENIXVILLE — Even after winning the program’s first Pioneer Athletic Conference championship in 17 years a season ago, Deacon Baratta firmly believes the Phoenixville basketball program still has plenty to prove.

After all, the Phantoms did lose three starters and three of their top four scorers from 2023-24, most notably alpha leader and low-post stud Max Lebisky (16.7 PPG), now playing at the University of Scranton. Phoenixville also graduated Christian Cervino (10.8 PPG), while talented guard Dawson Brown and his nearly 13 points per game transferred to Episcopal Academy.

That chip on their collective shoulders has served the Phantoms well through the season’s first nine games as they won their seventh consecutive contest on Saturday afternoon, a 64-48 decision over Perkiomen Valley that was mostly one-sided after a competitive first quarter. Baratta scored 14 of his game-high 21 points during a scorching second period, and senior football star Trey Lear — back on the hardwood after two seasons away — scored eight of his 12 points during an energetic first quarter, providing an early boost while Baratta worked on figuring out the Vikings’ defensive approach.

The triumph was the 150th victory of head coach Eric Burnett’s career after a decade-plus in charge of the program.

“We’ve talked about building a new legacy and forgetting about the championship,” said Baratta, one of two returning starters along with point guard Keron Booth. “We’ve got a whole new team with a whole new set of guys. Obviously we lost some key guys, so we’re trying to make a name for ourselves and put ourselves out there.”

One of those new-ish guys would be Lear, who played basketball as a freshman, then made the decision to quit the following year. His sabbatical lasted two full seasons, but after watching what Phoenixville (8-1 overall, 5-0 PAC, 4-0 Frontier) was able to accomplish from afar a season ago, Lear started feeling the pull to come back. Along with Baratta and Booth, he’s probably been the Phantoms’ most consistent player through the first third of the season.

“I saw they were succeeding last year and I started to miss it,” said Lear, who added four rebounds and three steals on Saturday. “I’ve played basketball my whole life, so the decision to quit my sophomore year was a big mistake. I wanted to come back, try to fit in the best I can, and here I am now at 8-1.”

Lear jumpstarted his team immediately on Saturday, connecting on 3-pointers on Phoenixville’s first two possessions and scoring eight of the first 14 Phantom points. Perk Valley (3-6, 2-3, 2-2 Liberty) proved to be a worthy adversity through the first eight minutes, trailing by just one point after one period.

The game was 16-16 early in the second frame before Baratta started to cook. He scored the next eight points on an and-one conversion, two more free throws and another deep triple. Baratta added his third of four total treys to close the quarter, giving the Phantoms a 36-23 lead at the break. Through three quarters, the advantage swelled to 50-32.

Baratta said that he had to keep his composure after a frustrating first quarter being face-guarded by Perk Valley defenders, which only motivated him going forward.

“When someone’s in my grill it kind of makes me angry,” he said. “Once I got my first shot to go in and got to the free throw a couple of times, that got me going.”

Baratta, who shot 6-for-10 from the field, 4-for-6 from downtown and 5-for-5 at the stripe while adding nine rebounds, said stepping out of Lebisky’s shadow to be Phoenixville’s top dog has been challenging at times. A natural introvert, Baratta is not as vocal as Lebisky was, but he also said he’s been finding his voice more as the season progresses and the Phantoms keep piling up wins.

“It’s definitely been a lot different, and Coach has been on me about using my voice more in practice,” Baratta said. “I’m naturally quiet, but I feel like I’ve gotten a lot better. I’m trying to instill my voice on the team because I know we have a target on our backs.”

Booth heated up after halftime, scoring nine of his 11 points after the break, but the real story was the sophomore’s defense on Vikings star Jakob Harken. Less than two days earlier, Harken exploded for a school-record 51 points in a win over Norristown; on Saturday, primarily guarded by the smaller Booth, Harken missed his first six shots from the field and shot 2-for-13 overall for 10 points. Joey Keough led PV with 13 points off the bench as Harken struggled to find his shot, and the Vikings also got 10 points from Colin Hollingsworth.

“Today they came out and sent a face guard, which hurt me a little bit,” Harken said. “I couldn’t get going as much as I did the other night.”

Even so, after a loss to Spring-Ford on Tuesday, Harken realized he would have to be more assertive offensively going forward. Whether the shot is falling or not doesn’t matter, because the Vikings lost four starters from last year’s group that won 20 games. Bad shooting days happen to even the best players, but Harken understands his importance to this whole operation a little more clearly now.

“I went home (on Thursday) and realized I have to be assertive and attack the rim more in these big games,” he said on Saturday. “I think it’s going to pay off once we get deeper into PAC play. Everyone goes to work for everybody here, we’re all brothers who are going to keep pushing.”

Booth’s defensive effort on a player coming off one of the best offensive performances in league history did not go unnoticed by his teammates.

“Keron is a little bit of a smaller dude but he really brings that toughness,” Lear said. “He was really hounding (Harken).”

“That was one of the key points to the game,” Baratta added. “Keron took it personally. He wanted that matchup and he wanted to shut (Harken) down. I think Keron did a really good job of getting underneath his chin and not letting him get easy shots.”

As a team, Phoenixville was 15-for-28 from inside the arc, 8-for-19 downtown and 10-for-14 at the line. If Baratta and his mates can keep making shots from inside-out at a high clip, Booth keeps playing strong two-way basketball and supporting members of the cast like Lear keep contributing at a high rate then there’s no reason this iteration of the Phantoms can’t be as dangerous as last year’s group that brought a title back to Phoenixville.

“Everyone’s really accepted their roles on the team,” Baratta said of the early-season success. “Our starters play really hard, and we have guys who come off the bench to give us an extra spark, which we need. If I’m getting shut down and Keron’s getting shut down, we trust those other guys to rebound and score the basketball.”

That of course includes Lear, whose winning pedigree on the football field has seamlessly transitioned back on to the hardwood.

“Coming back is the best decision I’ve made in a long time,” Lear said. “It’s nice being back. It was a big mistake quitting two years ago; now I’m just trying to do the best I can, having fun with all of the guys and bringing some energy. I know they lost some key players and I think my quickness, speed and being able to get to the rim helps us a lot.”

Phoenixville 64, Perkiomen Valley 48

PV 13 10 9 11  –  48

PHX 14 22 14 14  –  64

PV: Keough 2 3-3 13; Harken 2 6-6 10; Hollingsworth 2 0-0 10; Boyd 2 0-0 4; Tracey 0 0-0 3; MacDonald 0 0-0 3; Kelly 0 0-0 3; Rodriguez 1 0-0 2; Hoppenwasser 0 0-0 0; Baker 0 0-0 0; Nester 0 0-2 0; Wesselt 0 0-0 0; Totals 9 9-11 48.

PHX: Baratta 2 5-5 21; Lear 3 0-0 12; Booth 4 3-4 11; O’Donnell 2 0-0 7; Yurick 2 1-2 5; Smith 2 1-3 5; Venezia 0 0-0 3; Leo 0 0-0 0; Alexander 0 0-0 0; Coleman 0 0-0 0; Totals 15 10-14 64.

3-pointers: PV (7-for-15) – Hollingsworth 2, Keough 2, Tracey, Kelly, MacDonald; PHX (8-for-19) – Baratta 4, Lear 2, O’Donnell, Venezia