At the start of the third quarter of last Saturday’s District 11 Class 3A quarterfinal, the shots were falling for the Salisbury High School boys basketball team. But the rims were unkind to the Falcons in the fourth quarter as their 2023-24 season came to an end against a very familiar opponent in Saucon Valley.

The Panthers won the game 40-37 at Allen High School’s Sewards Gymnasium to advance to this week’s semifinals.

It was the fourth meeting of the year between the two Colonial League teams, each of them winning twice. Saucon Valley won the more important ones in the postseason, taking down Salisbury in the league tournament two weeks ago and again in districts.

A Falcons victory would have guaranteed them at least two more games with a shot at the state tournament. Instead, Salisbury’s season ends at 14-10 overall.

“In the second half they made an effort to get the ball inside,” said Falcon head coach Jason Weaver. “That’s their advantage over us, they’re a lot bigger than us. I thought we did a better job rebounding this game than we did the last time we played them. They just wore us down and I think it affected our shooting. For us to score and win, we need to make jump shots. Our guys played hard though and battled, and I’m proud of their effort.”

Leading 9-8 after the opening quarter and then 17-15 at halftime, the Falcons opened up the game a bit as they scorched the nets with four 3-pointers in the first 2:35 of the third quarter, capped by a three from Andrew Grejda with 5:25 left in the quarter to give his team a 26-19 advantage.

But the Panthers responded with a 10-0 run and went on top 29-28 after three and made it harder for Salisbury to make shots as they allowed just two points over the course of the first seven minutes of the final frame to take control of the game.

“We got that lead and then they switched up their defense on us and went 1-3-1 zone,” Weaver said. “That definitely affected our outside shooting and ball movement. We just missed some shots we were normally making.”

Saucon Valley was on top 36-30 with just under two minutes to play.

Salisbury’s Brady Leiner connected on two free-throws to shrink the deficit to just four, but the Panthers’ Jack Robertson made four of six from the charity stripe in the last 37 seconds to seal the win.

Salisbury’s Jack Foley led all scorers with 15 points. Sophomore Bryan Gonzalez tallied eight points. Thomas Lovelidge added five points.

In the end, it was a phenomenal season and turnaround for Salisbury, which went 5-17 last season and missed the postseason altogether. Weaver should be proud of both himself and his team, led by six seniors that were key in the vast improvement, including Jacob Cadet, Foley, Grejda, Leiner, Lovelidge and Jake Zellin.

“We talked as a team in the locker room afterward about how great of individuals they are,” said Weaver. “Their attitude, their composure, their intensity and their focus all season was great. None of these kids, JV or varsity, all season, received a technical foul. That’s amazing. These seniors really brought the program back up this year. They’re hard workers and did everything we asked of them.”