The Parkland High School boys basketball team had two very different games that resulted in wins this past week in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference tournament.

In the quarterfinal round last Friday night, in which they hosted Nazareth, the top-seeded Trojans trailed the eighth-seeded Blue Eagles 31-30 heading into the fourth quarter, but was able to answer the call and outscored them 8-4 in a low-scoring final frame to walk off the court winners 38-35 for their first win of the tournament.

Three nights later, on a bigger stage in a larger venue, Parkland had a much easier time of dispatching of the fourth seed, Liberty, leading for most of the game, before eventually pulling away and claiming a double-digit victory, 52-33, Monday night at the PPL Center to advance to Thursday’s championship game.

Against Nazareth, the two teams were tied 10-10 after the opening quarter and Parkland then went into the locker room at halftime ahead by just one, 22-21. The Blue Eagles outscored the Trojans 10-8 in the third quarter to reverse it and go on top by one themselves, 31-30 after three. But Parkland would not be denied on its home floor and buckled down on both ends of the court to secure the victory.

Nick Coval finished with a team-best 17 points, including five 3-pointers, and Zaire Smaltz also netted double figures with 11 points. Jayden Thomas and Robbie Ruisch both had five points to round out the quartet of scorers in the game for the Trojans.

In the win over the Hurricanes, Parkland left the first quarter ahead 12-10 and went to halftime leading 24-20, with the game still much undecided. A Blake Nassry 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter gave the Trojans a double-digit lead of 39-28. Parkland never allowed Liberty to get any closer from that point in winning by 19.

Coval tallied a game-high 19 points and added five assists and four rebounds. Ruisch and Nassry each recorded eight points and four rebounds.

Parkland improved to 19-5 overall and will take on the third seed, Emmaus, a team which it beat twice during the regular season, on Thursday night back at the PPL Center, for the title.