TOWAMENCIN – Despite cutting the deficit to 2 points with 22.5 seconds left in the game, North Penn ultimately lost their conference matchup to Pennridge 55-52 on Tuesday night.
“Hats off to them, they played a complete game. It’s tough because we played 24 minutes of good basketball, but the first quarter really hurt us,” North Penn head coach Cordell Lord said.
The first quarter saw the Rams jump out to a 12-2 lead fueled by three-pointers. They added on with two more threes to bring the score at the end of the first quarter to 18-9, Pennridge ahead.
“We just have to execute better. The last three quarters we either tied or won, and in the first quarter we lost by 9; it’s been kind of a common theme for us, we put ourselves in holes, and then we have to dig ourselves out,” Lord said.
Nolen Foust broke a back-and-forth second quarter with a floater with 1:56 left in the half that would start a 15-0 run for North Penn. A Foust block into a fast break layup for Gabe Altemus plus a trademark Ahmaar Godhania fadeaway 3-pointer took the Knights into the half with all the momentum.
“It doesn’t surprise me [that Pennridge was face-guarding Godhania]. He’s a top-tier player in the league and makes plays nonstop,” Lord mentioned.
The Knights kept rolling out of the half, as forward Aiden Atkison scored 5 of the last 8 points of the run. A Pennridge timeout stalled the North Penn momentum, but the Knights continued to crawl back into the game.
“We didn’t change too much [during the run], attack down low, get the ball to our bigs, and attack the paint,” Lord said.
5 free throws from Godhania, a corner three from Lee Hammond, and a layup for Atkinson gave North Penn the lead heading into the final quarter, up 45-44.
Pennridge started the fourth quarter hot, going on a 6-0 run while also burning 5 minutes off the clock in the process. An Atkinson 3-pointer was the lone North Penn score in the quarter until the last minute when the Knights started to get going.
Godhania hit a layup with 57 seconds left, but quickly picked up his fourth foul and Pennridge capitalized on the free throws going 2/2. Lee Hammond drew Rownan Smith’s fifth foul with 22.5 on the clock and drained both free throws as well.
Godhania fouled out 4 seconds later, leaving North Penn without their best three-point shooter as they found themselves down 3 points. The last 15 seconds was a scramble and Nolen Foust’s desperation three-pointer with 2.7 seconds left came up just short, leaving the final score 55-52.
“I thought it was two teams that came out and played as hard as they could. If we played each other 10 times, we’d probably split 5-5. We won both this year which were both very close games,” Dean Behrens, Pennridge’s head coach said. “We shot the ball really well early, and then it flipped; at the start of the second half, [North Penn] went on a run, and all of a sudden we’re only up 1. Luckily, our guys caught themselves, they didn’t panic, but the rest of the game was a one or two possession game.”
“It’s tough because we had a bunch of looks that we thought were really good and just didn’t connect on a lot of layups. We didn’t do the best job to start defensively and they got hot and hit a couple of threes that gave them a lot of confidence,” Lord said. “There wasn’t much said in the locker room, we just have to come back tomorrow and get to work because we’ve got two tough games coming up.”
While playoffs aren’t entirely out of the picture for North Penn, they’re in must-win territory.
“The reality is we have to win these last two games, to get in [to playoffs]. Win one, you’re looking for an absolute miracle. Win two and you’re in for sure because of who we play and the points that they have,” Lord said. The season’s not over yet, that’s something I stressed to them very heavily, we’re not out until they say we’re out.”
Pennridge will take on Central Bucks South at home on 1/31, and North Penn will host Souderton at home on the same day.
“[Souderton’s] a really good team, they have a fantastic coach I’ve known for years now, so I know he’s going to want to keep it rolling and not want to let us stay alive,” Lord concluded.
Pennridge (55): Stoward 14; Smith 12; Peters 11; Murray 8; Schwind 5; Flood 3; Bolger 2.
North Penn (52): Godhania 12; Atkinson 12; Hammond 11; Altemus 6; Foust 5; Martin 3; Ward 3.
