TOWAMENCIN – Any distractions from the upcoming break were put to bed early as the Knights raced to an 11-2 lead in the first quarter and never looked back, leading to a 68-44 win against Pennsbury.
“We had a tough night last night, just couldn’t get the ball rolling, and today when we spoke this morning I said our biggest [focus] was transition. We felt as though we had a big advantage transition-wise, and we felt as though we could get on a run and get some easy looks,” head coach Cordell Lord said.
Going on a 14-2 run to start the game, the Knights would have the lead for the entire game. Pennsbury put up three straight 3-pointers late in the quarter to bring them as close as 9 points, but they wouldn’t get any closer than that.
North Penn, per usual as of late, made use of a 3-2 zone throughout the game that would continue to shut down the Falcons.
The Pennsbury defense, on the other hand, had a hard time containing both Ahmaar Godhania and Aidan Atkinson, who would go on to score 16 and 20 points, respectively.
“As a team, we focused more on moving off the ball, we tried to keep the offense moving, being dynamic and not being stagnant, so that was the best way we would score,” power forward Atkinson said. “For me, the coaches are always emphasizing getting in the paint and playing strong, so my goal was to get as many rebounds as I could and put it back up.”
Atkinson had 10 of his 20 points in the second quarter as the Knights were rolling, putting up 24 as a team. They would close out the half on a 9-3 run led by Lee Hammond, leaving the score at 45-20.
Pennsbury showed some sparks of a comeback coming out of the half in a quick 5-0 run, but every shot they made was later matched by North Penn’s aforementioned duo, who scored 14 of the 16 points the Knights would have in the quarter.
“Today was, by far, our most unselfish game of the year. Guys were giving up good shots for great shots. There will be times that they get a good shot [opportunity] and we just have to make sure instead of a good shot we can get a great shot. I want to give a shoutout to JC [Wood], he had a shot open in the corner in transition and he was really unselfish and got the ball back to Aidan [Atkinson] multiple times for a great look,” Lord said.
Pennsbury was slow to give up, continuing to score through the fourth quarter, but it wouldn’t be enough to overcome the large North Penn lead, leaving the final score at 68-44.
North Penn took the time during halftime to honor and recognize the 50th anniversary of the 1974-75 Bux-Mont championship team. Members of the team came back home from as far as Arkansas and Florida to take part in the ceremony. The team was 5-4 in the first half of the season but would go on to win 8 straight en route to the Bux-Mont title.
North Penn (4-6, 1-2) will match up against Perkiomen Valley at home on 12/27, and Pennsbury (3-4, 2-1) will head down to South Carolina to play Burke High School on 12/27.
North Penn: Atkinson 20; Godhania 16, Martin 8; Hammond 7; Altemus 4; Foust 4; Onyeanusi 4; Wood 3; Markin 2.
Pennsbury: Roccograndi 18; Manga 8; Shaw 5; Clark 5; Breslin 3; Primola 3; Gozum 2.
