The Atlantic City Vikings have had a ton of success during the Gene Allen era, they have given fans of the Vikings and south jersey high school basketball a lot of tremendous playoff runs.

How do they keep doing it?

One word - defense.

Atlantic City tightened the screws on the defensive side of the ball and used their pressure to hold off Holy Spirit 59-52 on Friday night. The Vikings gave up just nine points in the fourth quarter and closed the game out on a 13-2 run.

"We saw they were making a run, but coach Allen told us to calm down and keep playing the defense we were playing and we would be fine," Vikings senior Lamar Thomas said after the win. "We did that and we got the job done."

It was the same type of defense the Vikings used to win back-to-back state titles in 2012 and 2013.

Atlantic City has been playing without two transfers who will most likely enter the starting lineup when they are eligible to play on Monday. While the Vikings are small by Atlantic City standards, they are very athletic and play very good defense - adding Leon Daniels and Ayshion Centeno will give the Vikings both size and depth.

More size and more depth, might be just what Atlantic City needs to win another Cape Atlantic League title and maybe even another state title.

Atlantic city guard Lamar Thomas after the win:

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