The Salisbury boys basketball team played 22 games last winter season as it fell short of qualifying for any postseason tournaments. This summer, it has played over 30 games since May.

The Falcons’ run came to an end last week in the Cedar Beach Summer League playoffs. Lincoln Leadership, the No. 6 seed in the small school division playoffs, defeated the No. 3 seeded Falcons, 45-37.

Salisbury won over 20 of those games this summer and enters the high school season on a confident note after winning the Bash at the Beach tournament as well in July.

“Obviously winning the first tournament and going 9-2 in the league, I think we are going in with a much better attitude,” assistant coach Chris Basile said. “We are way more athletic than we were last year. When we are all here and we play together, we can play. It’s amazing that how many times, if every guy on the offensive set touches the ball, we get a basket.

“I think at one point we were 22-9. Since May we’ve played as many games in our normal regular season.”

Early on in the summer league playoff game, Salisbury looked like one of the top teams as it had for much of the summer.

The Falcons opened up an 8-2 lead in the first couple of minutes and led 24-18 at intermission against Lincoln Leadership.

But the Falcons seemed to struggle offensively coming out of halftime. Lincoln Leadership opened the half on a 14-4 spurt that the favored Falcons could not recover from. A jumper from Kenyo Herrera got the Falcons within 34-33, the closest Salisbury would get the rest of the way.

A 3-pointer from Patrick Foley, who scored a team-high 17 points, cut Lincoln’s lead to 40-37 in the final minutes. Foley and Chad Parton each had open 3-pointers late that could have cut Lincoln’s lead even more, but both shots fell short on the rim.

“I think the wind kicked up, and we still thought we could shoot threes,” Basile said. “We told them to get the ball inside, but obviously we missed both Quinn’s and Trey’s size inside. When the threes are falling, everyone is happy. Patrick came out and was very hot.”

Foley hit four 3-pointers. Quinn Warmkessel and Trey Weber, two key pieces for the Falcons, missed the game due to other obligations.

Southern Lehigh defeated Palmerton for the small school title on Friday night. Wilson West Lawn took down Easton for the large school championship.