The Salisbury boys' basketball team had endured slow starts in two of their final three regular season games.

Against Notre Dame-Green Pond and Southern Lehigh, the Falcons faced deficits of 11 and seven points, respectively, in the first quarter of those games. The Falcons were able to come back from that deficit against the Spartans in their regular season finale, but the Crusaders' advantage back on January 31 was too much to overcome.

During last week's Colonial League semifinals against No. 2 seed Catasauqua, the No. 3 seeded Falcons once again had a difficult start through eight minutes. The Rough Riders, who led 8-2 after the first quarter, led by as many as nine points in the second quarter. That lead ballooned to double digits in the fourth quarter, and the Rough Riders advanced to the championship game with a 48-42 victory on Wednesday night at Southern Lehigh High School.

"I don't know what we were doing early on," head coach Jason Weaver said. "The defense wasn't where it needs to be and our intensity wasn't there. You can't win ball games if you're not going to play intense. Teams want to win, and they're not just coming out here going through the motions."

Although the Falcons were pitted from behind since the opening tip, Salisbury was able to use a fourth-quarter run to claw back within five points with under a minute to play.

After the Rough Riders went ahead 37-27 with roughly 5:35 remaining, the Falcons scored 13 of the next 21 points. Eddie Sanchez, who scored nine of the Falcons' 15 fourth-quarter points, did all he could to keep them within striking distance.

Sanchez's three-pointer from the left wing with 3:46 to play made it 39-34, the closest they had been since it was a four-point game with 2:07 to play in the third. Then, Sanchez drove to the hoop and his layup with 57 seconds to play made it 45-40. Sanchez finished with a team-high 16.

"We never could get to within a possession to tie it, or to make it a one-point game or two-point game to close it," Weaver said. "It was always four, or five, or six, and then it was back up to seven again. It wasn't our best effort."

Weaver wasn't pleased with his team's defense, as the Rough Riders continuously got open layups around the basket. The Rough Riders hit 21-of-41 shots from the field.

"They made us work for everything that we got on offense," Weaver said. "And we gave them a lot of really easy baskets. They had 21 field goals and most of those were wide open layups.

"Most of those were within three or four feet. A lot of them were wide open. There's just no excuse for it."

Derrick Bond and Kevin Bond had a large part in the Rough Riders' quick first-half start. Derrick Bond led all first-half scorers with nine points, while Kevin Bond was right behind that with eight points in the first 16 minutes.

Derrick Bond ended the game with 19 points, seven rebounds and three blocks, while Brandon Purrone tallied nine points and four assists.

Austin Uhl (nine points and seven rebounds) and Justin Aungst (eight points and nine rebounds) helped pace the Falcons.

For the second consecutive year, the Falcons were eliminated in the Colonial League semifinals. However, the Falcons still have the upcoming District 11 Class AAA Tournament, where they finished in third place last season.

They'll face Bethlehem Catholic on Friday in a quarterfinal game. A win would likely earn them a semifinal match up against state-ranked Central Catholic next week. The Falcons will need to win two games to reach the state tournament and district championship game.

"We were in this locker room last year in the semis and we lost," Weaver said. "We were able to move on and get some extra games.

"That game [last season's Colonial League semifinals against Wilson] was sort of forgotten about because then we beat Wilson [in Districts] and moved on and got to states."