TOWAMENCIN – Late in the fourth quarter, Souderton had their chances, but it was the Knights of North Penn that grinded out of enough plays down the stretch to snag a 48-45 victory, completing a season sweep of the Indians.  

Things were pretty sloppy early on, as both teams were turning the ball over and having a hard time getting any shots to fall. The Knights struck first, as David Robinson put back one of A.J Catanzaro’s few misses of the night. For the Indians, Trevor Watts led his team with four points in the first quarter, and Antonio Rodriguez and Dom Natale nailed one three pointer a piece. The Knights found themselves in a familiar spot at the end of the first quarter, as they trailed 12-7 going into the second quarter.

“Typical,” said North Penn head coach John Conrad with a chuckle, referencing his team’s slow start.

The Knights’ offense, and student section for that matter, needed something to breathe life into them.

Enter Senior A.J Catanzaro.

Catanzaro owned the second quarter, scoring ten of his game-high 16 points, and knocking down two three-pointers; one of which set off the North Penn Student Section, who stayed quiet until the Knights reached 10 points because of the “Silent Night” theme. A.J. Mitchell then sank two free throws for North Penn to cap off a 17 point second quarter which gave the Knights a 24-22 lead at the break.

“He was awesome, we’ve been after him to shoot it more, and he had a couple of big threes. I thought he played great tonight,” said Conrad, regarding the play of Catanzaro.

Coming out of halftime, North Penn dialed up the pressure.

Ball pressure created steals, which caused the Knights to get easy fast break layups. They went on an 8-2 run in the blink of an eye. Catanzaro and fellow senior Chris Coleman led the charge, scoring four points each. Tomas Hanrahan kept Souderton within one possession of the lead, scoring four of his ten points in the third.

“We talked at halftime about holding them to ten points a quarter, and we did that in the third quarter,” said Conrad.

Coleman scored a layup off an inbounds play to give North Penn a 36-34 lead going into the final frame.

Coleman picked up where he left off at the end of the third quarter, sinking a straight-away three pointer to start the fourth. With just over two minutes remaining in regulation, A.J. Catanzaro skied in for a putback of an A.J. Mitchell missed layup, giving North Penn a 44-40 lead.

The Indians wouldn’t go away quietly, though. Steve Luchansky knocked down a corner three in transition to bring the Indians with in a point of the lead. Chris Coleman responded quickly, driving in for a tough layup to put the Knights lead back to three points.

With under a minute to go, Souderton Senior Kavi Ramchandani threw the ball inside to Trevor Watts, who banked in a hook shot to cut North Penn’s lead to one. However, Watts’ bank shot was the last time the Indians saw a shot go through the net.

The Knights commited a turnover soon after, but their defense came up big. David Robinson, who is usually known for his scoring, blocked Tomas Hanrahan’s potential go-ahead layup.

The Knights then had Joey Lindsay and A.J. Mitchell step up to the free-throw line to seal the game, but both times, North Penn came up empty. A Souderton turnover sent Lindsay back to the line, and this time, things were different. Lindsay calmly knocked down both of his free throws, extending the lead to three.

Steve Luchansky’s full court heave was off at the buzzer, and North Penn sealed a thrilling back and forth victory.

“It was crazy, a quadruple header against Souderton, there’s nothing like it”, remarked Catanzaro.

The Knights travel to Downington West for their next game, this Saturday at 2:15.

NP: Catanzaro 16 pts, Coleman 12 pts, Mitchell 6 pts, Lindsay 5 pts, D. Robinson 5 pts, Caputo 2 pts

Souderton: Watts 11 pts, Hanrahan, 10 pts, Natale 10 pts, Luchansky 6 pts, Rodriguez 5 pts, Williams 2 pts, Ramchandani 1 point