It was set in stone that no matter the outcome of Saturday’s game against St. Peters (NJ) in the SportsFest “A-Town Throwdown” basketball tournament, Salisbury wouldn’t be advancing to the fourth and final day of the event.

But head coach Jason Weaver wanted the Falcons to put their 0-2 start behind them and regroup for the finale. And that’s what they did.

Salisbury responded in its second game on Saturday, the final day of pool play at Cedar Beach Park in Allentown, to defeat St. Peter’s 55-50. Three Falcons scored in double figures in the finale, led by rising senior Jaxon Costello with 15 points.

“We told the guys before the game started that we weren’t going to advance today, but we have a big game coming up on Tuesday,” Weaver said. “We have to build some momentum for the semifinals of the league playoffs.”

Results from Tuesday’s game against Faith Christian were not available at time of press. The winner plays the winner of Saucon Valley and Lincoln Leadership for the Small Division championship.

Salisbury, which led 32-18 at halftime, got a combined five three pointers and 21 points from Blake Jones and Ryan Slutsky in the first half alone. It was one of the better shooting efforts from Salisbury over the past two weeks, and it was the Falcons’ first victory from either SportsFest or last week’s Stellar tournament.

“We haven’t played very well in these tournaments,” Weaver said following the St. Peter’s game. “I think we were a step slow, our defense wasn’t that good, and we just didn’t really play team basketball. I thought we did a better job in this last game in terms of moving the ball and working for good shots. I think the defense overall was solid.

“It was our best effort of both tournaments. It’s our only win in either tournament for varsity, so it was a step in the right direction.”

The Falcons’ opener came against a familiar foe from a week ago. And the result was a similar one from Stellar. Dieruff used a second-half spurt to overtake Salisbury with its athleticism and size to down the Falcons for the second time in a week.

“We were down three to Dieruff…and then they just went on a run,” Weaver said. “All of a sudden we started firing quick shots. We have to play our game. We can’t get up and down, give one pass and shoot. That’s not our style against a team like Dieruff.”

Although tough to predict the future, a win against Souderton in their second game would have put the Falcons in good position to qualify for the single-elimination tournament on Sunday and fight for a championship.

But instead of building off a four-point lead near the end of the first half and putting Souderton away, defensive’ woes cost the Falcons at any possibility of earning a berth on championship Sunday.

“Against Souderton, we had a two-point lead with four minutes to go in the first half,” Weaver said. “But then we give up a wide open three-pointer because we’re not matched up with guys. And then they get a couple fastbreak points and all of a sudden we’re down 10. It’s little things we need to keep getting better at.

“We get down by 10 or 12, but it feels like we’re down 30 because we pack it in, in a sense. We have to keep fighting through it.”

The Falcons went 1-4 over the two tournaments, a record that hasn’t been indicative of the team the past couple of years in these tournaments. But despite the win-loss record, Salisbury experienced plenty of remarkable competition that will make them better for the winter season.