TOWAMENCIN – A late playoff bid isn’t out of the picture for the Knights after their 65-51 win over William Tennent on Tuesday night.
“We’re still alive in playoffs, we still have a really good opportunity to sneak in and get a bid. We’ve got some really good teams coming up so we know it’s now or never. We know if we’re gonna play our best brand of basketball that comes from a lot of energy, getting out on the breaks, and just playing team basketball,” head coach Cordell Lord said. “[The energy] starts with our seniors. They know time is running out.”
The energy was palpable right out of the gate as North Penn jumped out to a 15-5 lead six minutes into the first quarter, led by forward Aiden Atkinson’s 6 points. William Tennent was quick to return fire, going on a 9-2 run to close the quarter.
Tennent continued to control early in the second quarter and suddenly the Knights found themselves down 3 in a game that felt like theirs to win. An Ahmaar Godhania layup combined with a stylish Godhania to Hammond to Atkinson layup brought North Penn within striking distance, ending the half down 25-27.
“The mentality was keep playing rough, keep playing strong, get in the paint, and keep playing like dogs out there. Coming out of the first half Coach [Lord] was telling us our energy was low and we’re letting them stay in the game; we can’t just fold once they start hitting shots, so we just had to pick up the energy. Into the second half, we picked up the energy and in the fourth quarter we started to connect the dots and play as hard as we could,” Atkinson said.
The Knights started the game in a man defense, which has been uncommon for them this season.
“William Tennent is an extremely good shooting team, [if] they get hot from a distance it’s really had to guard them. They run a lot of actions and they make things very difficult for us, so our mindset was staying attached, switching everything, communicating as much as we can, and showing a different side so we’re keeping teams off-balance as much as possible,” Lord explained.
With as close of a game as it was at the half, and a William Tennent team beginning to string shots together, Lord switched up the defense into their more characteristic 3-2 zone.
“When we went to the zone in the second half it threw them off, I feel as though we did a good job getting multiple turnovers and deflections then executing out of the break. The difference between the first and second halves, the first half we struggled on the break and executing and we did a much better job of finishing and getting good looks off the break,” Lord said.
The third quarter was entirely back and forth, with North Penn putting up 20 fueled by Hammond and Godhania. Almost every shot was matched by a Tennent player, but the Knights began to pull away at the end of the quarter, leading by 5.
All five starters for North Penn would go on to score in a fourth quarter dominated by the Knights, and Gabe Altemus capped the game with an exclamation point, slamming down a dunk to solidify the win, 65-51.
North Penn will play #2 ranked in the state Upper Dublin on 1/16 at home, and William Tennent will take on Bensalem at home on 1/17. Coach Cordell Lord emphasized how important this win was headed into a difficult part of the Knight’s schedule.
“We play arguably the best team of the year in Upper Dublin next game so I truly felt it was extremely important to come and get a win today, build that energy in practice tomorrow, and come out here and give Upper Dublin our best punch. They’re beating some of the top teams in the district handily and they’re a very good basketball club; their head coach is a North Penn alum, I know he’ll be happy to be back,” Lord said. “They don’t get comfortable, so that’ll be a challenge for us. I’m very confident in what we can do, it’s just going to take a full 32 minutes, we have to stay poised and execute very well.”
North Penn (65): Atkinson 19; Godhania 13; Hammond 12; Altemus 9; Foust 5; Onyeanusi 4; Martin 2; Ward 1.
William Tennent (51): Bright 14; Torok 11; Stracuzzi 9; People 7; Goldberg 5; Bula 5.
