TOWAMENCIN- This was a big one. A battle of the best of the SOL Continental, and a conference title on the line. 

Coming off an 11 game winning streak and the adrenaline rush to perform for senior night, the Knights put up a fight, but were not able to keep the winning streak alive.

Tuesday night the North Penn Knights (17-5) hosted the Central Bucks East Patriots (18-3) for the regular season finale. The game did not go in the Knights’ favor as they lost with a final score of 69-42.

¨They are a pretty good basketball team and we didn’t really compete with them tonight so we need to play better on both ends of the floor. We need to play more unselfish, but I think we know what we need to do; it’s just a matter of execution,¨ head coach John Conrad explained.

With a slow start to the game and a scoreless first minute and a half, the Patriots put the first four points up on the board, with two layups within a minute of each other. Junior Teddy McAllister quickly answered with two baskets tying up the score.

As the score was only tied for another minute with two more points from the Patriots and two points from senior Ryan Deininger, the rest of the half continued with back-and-forth shots until the quarter ended with the Patriots up 18-12. 

¨This shows that we´ve got to work harder at practice. I feel like that was a tough team, but we just have to make a good playoff run,¨ sophomore Norman Gee stated.

Although the Knights put up a good effort to defend the Patriots, East was just too quick as they scored eight points in the second quarter before the Knights could score points of their own. Throughout the second quarter, the Patriots gained a 14-point lead. Contributing to the nine points scored this quarter was senior Ryan Zeltt with three, and Deininger, Gee, and junior Corey Meade all contributed two.

¨I want to shout out Zeltt, Dino (Deininger), and Moe. Moe brought a lot of energy to the team even when we were down he was always saying ´let’s go, pick your head up´. Zeltt was just hitting big-time shots for us, and getting rebounds; he was our big man and Dino was just our aggressor,¨ Gee emphasized.

The third quarter continued with the back and forth possession. Although the possession was 50/50, the Knights’ shots just weren’t falling  enough to compete with the points the Patriots were putting up. The quarter ended 54-37 in the Patriots’ favor.

¨Keep doing what we´ve been doing and continue to try and get better in practice,¨ Conrad stated.

While the Knights put up a good effort the game ended with a final score of 69-42. Points in the fourth quarter for the Knights were contributed by sophomore Ahmar Godhania, Sgro, and Zeltt.

¨This game shows that every team in the playoffs is going to be a tough challenge and you can’t take a win lightly,¨ Zeltt stated.

North Penn and the rest of the District 1 field will now await the postseason seeding to see how the second season will begin.