TOWAMENCIN – The North Penn Knights lost a heartbreaker on the hardwood Friday night, letting the game slip away down the stretch and falling to the Pennridge Rams 52-49. It was a closely contested game throughout, with both teams trading leads in all four quarters. The Knights were led by senior guard Joe Richards and forward Jared Melone, with 12 and 9 points respectively, while the Rams received two big performances from senior guard Joe Molettiere, with 16 points, and junior Danny Long, who led all scorers with 20 points.

The two teams started evenly to begin the game, with North Penn scoring the first basket off a fast break layup by senior point guard Cordell Lord. North Penn used their height advantage against the Ram’s five guard starting lineup, crashing the defensive glass and pushing the ball up the floor. However, the Rams used a suffocating man to man defense to slow the Knights when they attempted to run their half court offense, and Long hit three three-pointers to ignite the Pennridge offense. The first quarter ended tied 17-17, with both teams neck and neck.

The second quarter saw the Knights take control of the game, as they were able to hold the Rams to just five points. Pennridge struggled at the free throw line, which became a theme for them all game, and both Lord and junior guard J.J. Melchior hit three pointers for North Penn. Both teams kept it scoreless from the four minute mark on, but a layup by Melone and a dunk by Richards ignited the home crowd and carried the Knights into halftime with a 22-26 lead.

Both teams came out of halftime with defensive intensity, and neither team was able to gain more than a three point lead in the first 7 minutes of the third quarter. However, a putback and layup by Pennridge guard Zach Muredda and another Long three-pointer put the Ram’s up, 33-38. North Penn was able to cut the lead to two with a Melchior three-pointer with 39 seconds left, and the teams entered the fourth with Pennridge leading by a of score at 38-36.

North Penn played most of the fourth quarter with their three senior captains on the bench, playing sophomore forward Ricky Johns, Melone, and sophomore center Derek Heiserman with junior guards Melchior and Matt Pickford. While the lineup kept the score close, with both teams trading the lead throughout the quarter, the absence of a primary ball handler stagnated the North Penn offense, which was relegated to putbacks and layups, and the five guard Pennridge lineup took advantage by applying ball pressure and converting fast break layups.

The Ram’s inability to convert free throws kept the game close, and the North Penn senior captains checked in after a Long layup gave Pennridge a 50-48 lead with 2:47 left. Senior Kyle Hulmes converted a putback layup off an offensive rebound, and hit one of two free throws the next Knights’ possession to cut the lead to one, 50-49, with 1:03 left in the game. North Penn was able to get a stop, but a missed three pointer on the ensuing trip down the floor gave the Rams the ball. After a Pennridge timeout with 26 seconds left, Moletteire broke free for a dunk, putting the Rams up by three, 52-49, with 20 seconds left. North Penn did not get a shot up on the next possession, but still got one more chance with 12 seconds left when Moletteire failed to convert when sent to the line, but Richards turned the ball over as time expired.

The Rams clinched the Continental Conference with the win, improving their record to 17-2, 11-1 in conference. As the season wraps up, the Rams look to be the team to beat in the District playoffs this year, while the Knights may end up on the outside looking in, as with the loss they drop to 11-9, and their 6-6 conference record drops them to fifth place in the standings. Coach John Conrad said that his team must step up down the stretch of games, and this team has some tough questions to answer to try to fix their issues finishing games.

“Better decisions down the stretch,” said Conrad. “We had the lead late, but for whatever reason we just don’t make good decisions down the stretch.”

The Knights look to right the ship Tuesday, February 3, at Souderton in the first game of a boys and girls doubleheader.