After his team’s recent 89-69 loss to Notre Dame, Catasauqua head boys’ basketball coach Eric Snyder took to heart postgame comments from Crusader’s head coach Pat Boyle and assistant Tony Vigilanti.

“They were impressed with the way we played,” noted Snyder. “They told me that no team scored that many points against them this season. They said how they have a lot of seniors and we have a young lineup.”

Snyder stated how the game was with reach for the Rough Riders. Catty entered the game with an overall 3-8 record and had gained some momentum with recent wins over Southern Lehigh and Palisades.

Against Notre Dame, the Roughies were on the doorstep.

“We were right there at 81-68,” recalled Snyder. “There was about three-and-a-half minutes to go, and we thought we could cut it to 10 (points). We had the ball, but we couldn’t score.

“But the kids played hard and battled them. They didn’t back down, and stayed with them.”

In a previous 52-30 loss to Saucon Valley, the Roughies’ shooting went cold.

“We were awful against Saucon Valley,” he stressed. “We couldn’t score. We shot 12-for-52 from the floor. Our leading scorer, Frankie Pujols, shot 6-for-12. If you take away his numbers, the rest of the team was 6-for-40. We were only one-for-21 on three pointers, and we hit our lone three early in the game.

“It just wasn’t a good night for us.”

Snyder has been pealed with the return of 6-4 Matt Fotta into the lineup. He and fellow post player Jeremiah Cofie can provide the Roughies with an effective presence down low.

“Fotta played well and was aggressive,” said Snyder. “He can do some things for us. With him and Cofie in there, we have some size. It can be a nice lineup with tour three guards.”

Snyder likes the direction of his team after the wins over Southern Lehigh and Palisades. However, a weather postponement against Moravian Academy curbed their momentum.

“We had the two nice wins, and we started getting things together,” he said. “If we could have played against Moravian and won, that would have really helped us.”

The Roughies have games this week against Kutztown (Tuesday weather pending), Pen Argyl (Thursday) and Palmerton (Saturday). Snyder is maintaining a positive outlook.

“The kids are confident,” he said. “They believe they can play against anyone and be a winning team. We are right on the cusp.”