Following last week, the Parkland High School boys basketball team was looking to get back on the right track. The Trojans won five of their first six games to open up the 2021-22 regular season. But the week in between Christmas and New Year was a challenge for them.

Parkland played in the Reading High School Holiday Tournament and played games against the host Red Knights and Eastern Pennsylvania Conference foe Pocono Mountain West in the two-day event. The Trojans were defeated in both and were looking to find their groove once again when EPC play resumed this week.

Parkland got back in the win column as it took a 10-point lead into halftime and beat Liberty 51-39 in an EPC matchup at Parkland High School Tuesday night.

“It felt great to win this one and get back in the win column,” said Trojan head coach Andy Stephens. “Although I wasn’t overly disappointed in our losses last week in Reading because I thought we still played well. It’s always tough losing anytime you do, so this one was nice.”

The Trojans (5-3 overall, 5-0 EPC) remained undefeated in conference play with their fifth straight victory against a league opponent. Parkland took a 25-15 lead over the Hurricanes (5-4, 3-2) to halftime, but then had to hold on after a third quarter which saw Liberty outscore the Trojans 15-10.

“We played hard throughout I thought,” Stephens said. “We played well defensively which really helped in that final quarter. I thought we also scored just enough despite a great defensive effort by Liberty.”

Senior Will Meeker and sophomore Nick Coval combined to score 37 of their team’s 51 points in the victory, which was 73 percent of the offensive output. Coval tallied a game-high 19 points, including 10 coming in the second half. Meeker finished with 18 points, 12 of which came in the first half.

“Will and Nick played great tonight,” said Stephens. “They were able to score when we needed big baskets. As you can see with the final score, we needed every one of the points they scored to get us over top.”

Dahlir Adams recorded six points. Matt Ray netted four points and both Matt Bauer and Matt Rantz added two each.

Parkland has two road games in conference in their next two. The Trojans take on defending state champion Central Catholic on Friday night and then travel to play East Stroudsburg North next Tuesday.