Campbell, Spring-Ford advance to PIAA quarterfinals with gritty 45-32 win over Springfield-Delco

NORRISTOWN — Three weeks ago, E.J. Campbell and the Spring-Ford basketball team were on the ropes.

Now, they are three wins away from the winner’s circle.

The Rams won their fifth consecutive postseason game on Wednesday night, a 45-32 grind-’em-out defensive struggle over Springfield-Delco in the second round of the PIAA Tournament. Campbell delivered the goods with a 12-point, 10-rebound performance to help the Rams, the ninth seed in District 1, reach the state quarterfinals for the second consecutive season.

The result ended the season for Springfield, District 1’s eighth seed that was back in the state playoffs for the first time since 2017 and won its first game in this tournament since 2007 in the first round.

Spring-Ford will take on Archbishop Wood of the Philadelphia Catholic League and the third seed from District 12 on Saturday at a venue at time to be determined.

The Rams almost didn’t make it here at all after a second-round home upset at the hands of Garnet Valley in the District 1-6A Tournament. The team then had to win a win-or-go-home playback game against Central Bucks West on Feb. 23 just to qualify for states. That fact is not lost on Campbell, one of two seniors on the Spring-Ford roster, who came oh-so-close to a premature ending to his high school career.

“My main goal was to get back to the district championship, and we lost in the second round,” he said. “We knew we had to win that CB West game, and we’ve won every game since. I think it put a chip on our shoulder. Tomorrow is not promised, so I’m just thankful we have another practice tomorrow. I go into each game thinking this could be my last one, so I’m going to give it all I’ve got.”

The Rams scored the first seven points of the game and never trailed against Springfield, with Campbell setting the tone by scoring five points in the opening period and eight of his 12 points before halftime in a game where offense was at a premium all night. Campbell and junior Matt Zollers (11 points) both reached double figures in scoring, but the game was won by the Rams on the defensive end. Springfield head coach Kevin McCormick runs a Princeton-style offense that features constant motion, cutting and ball screens, and in a high school game with no shot clock, that wears on a defense’s legs the longer a possession lasts.

To Spring-Ford’s credit, they were ready for it, and they limited the Cougars to 32 percent shooting from the field, including a 2-for-14 mark from 3-point range.

“Our biggest thing at practice has been buckling down on defense,” Campbell said. “We didn’t really touch a basketball the last couple practices, working on a lot of 4-on-4 shell drills and transition stuff. We’re just outside of Philadelphia, but we play defense like a Philly team. I think we have that kind of energy where you have to have that dog mentality. You can’t really teach defense — you just have to have it in you.”

It wasn’t the most crisp offensive effort for the Rams (23-7), especially given the fact that Jacob Nguyen, Campbell’s sharpshooting backcourt mate, shot 0-for-7 from the field and scored all eight of his points at the foul line. On this night, Spring-Ford just had to be good enough offensively, and the team made up for any offensive shortcomings by completely taking Springfield out of its own comfort zone on the other end.

“It’s really hard to ask high school kids to play defense for 35, 45, 60 seconds at a time,” Spring-Ford head coach Joe Dempsey said. “We told the kids to be disciplined, don’t leave the shooters and continue to grind. Then when you get on offense, you have to have good possessions because you’re not going to get as many. It was a grind-it-out game. Just proud of the guys. They’re exhausted, but that’s the way you’ve got to play Springfield.”

After the Rams took their first double-digit lead at 26-15 in the third quarter, Springfield (14-15) responded with six straight points to try to get back in the fight, but Zollers converted an and-1 followed by a quarter-ending bucket by Tommy Kelly to head into the final period leading 31-21. The Cougars never got closer than that the rest of the way.

York College commit Colin Treude scored a team-high 11 points in his final game, and fellow senior Ryan Johnston chipped in eight of his own. For a team that didn’t even qualify for the Central League’s postseason, the Cougars have been playing with house money since districts.

“It was a terrific group, and every day at practice was a blast,” McCormick said. “They put in so much time that they deserved an opportunity to taste this tournament. They had heard about it and watched our competitors get into it, so that’s what their goal was. We got into district playoffs, made the most of it and got a win in states. It was a fun year, and it ended probably where it should have.”

Next up for the Rams is a much more offensively-efficient Wood team that features two Division-I recruits in Jalil Bethea (Miami) and Josh Reed (Drexel), both of whom average north of 20 points per game. Bethea, a McDonald’s All-American, is one of the state’s premier scorers, capable of racking up points at the rim or launching 3s from way downtown. After falling short of the Catholic League championship game, the Vikings are motivated.

Dempsey, the former head coach at La Salle, knows his opponent well and understands that his team will have its hands full.

“They have a lot of talent, so it’s going to take a fantastic effort,” Dempsey said. “They’ve been through the Catholic League wars and are hungry and playing angry. They’re obviously very dangerous, so we’ll need a tough performance from everybody in order to beat them. We just have to play our game and try not to do too much.”

“I’m not going to speak too much because I don’t want to jinx us,” Campbell added with a smile. “But we’ll come ready to play on Saturday.”

Spring-Ford 45, Springfield-Delco 32

Spring-Ford 10 9 12 14 – 45

Springfield 5 7 9 11 – 32

Spring-Ford: Kelly 2 0 0-0 4, Nguyen 0 0 8-8 8, Zollers 2 2 1-1 11, Campbell 4 1 1-1 12, Mokonchu 2 0 0-0 4, Marsilio 2 0 0-0 4, Dellangelo 0 0 0-0 0, Turner 0 0 0-0 0, Pufko 1 0 0-0 2, Barnes 0 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 3 10-10 45

Springfield: Flaherty 0 1 0-0 3, Dolan 1 0 1-2 3, Adams 1 0 1-4 3, Treude 3 1 2-3 11, Johnston 4 0 0-0 8, Valletti 1 0 0-0 2, Toomey 1 0 0-0 2, Altes 0 0 0-0 0. Totals 11 2 4-9 32