TOWAMENCIN-Heading into Tuesday night’s contest with Hatboro-Horsham, the Knights knew that they were in for a tough match up. The Hatters brought with them a 4-2 conference record as well as speed and athleticism to run the Knights right out of the gym.

Despite the apparent mismatch, the Knights were able to keep pace with the Hatters, however in the end Hatboro-Horsham pulled away, securing the 61-50 win.

The game started off as a seesaw battle, with each team trading the lead. The Knights were scrapping under the basket for points well and forcing the Hatters into taking bad shots (5-15 from the field in the first quarter), which seemed to keep the dam from breaking and kept North Penn in the game.

“With a team that athletic we needed to box out and not just run to the glass and try to out jump them.” said Noah Kwortnik, who tallied 15 points in the game.

The Hatters took a 20-12 lead on a 3-pointer with 3:23 left in the first half. But Kwortnik sparked a 10-2 scoring run with seven points, and the Knights tied the game at 22 with 24 seconds left.

With 0.3 seconds left in the first half, Clifton Moore was fouled by the Knights and sank both of his shots at the charity stripe to put the Hatters up 24-22 at the half.

At the start of the second half, the Hatters came out on fire, and seemed to take the Knights by surprise. At the end of three, the Knights found themselves down 43-33.

“Coming out after the half, we went into a man press to try and slow them down,” Kwortnik said of his team’s’ response to the Hatters fast start from the locker room. “We also had to drop a man off of the offensive glass because they were cherry picking every possession and getting easy buckets that way.”

The Knights were able to hang around down the stretch, at one point in the fourth quarter pulling within four points thanks in large part to the contributions of Lance Lindsay-Ford who had 12 points and Matt Pickford who dropped 14.

Ultimately the Knights desperate attempts down the stretch were all for naught, as the Knights would fall to the Hatters.

“I liked the way we played as a team today, everyone contributed a few points, a few assists, and a few rebounds and that is what sets you up for wins,” Kwortnik added. “However he have to box out and get to the glass more in order to win games.”

The Knights look to get back on track Thursday against C.B. South.