City of Basketball Love

By Zak Wolf (@ZakWolf22)
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Methacton trailed by two with three seconds remaining as Mathew Christian inbounded the ball to Sal Iemello.The sophomore dished it to Alex Hermann who took one dribble and fired a prayer at the buzzer with Mario Sgro contesting. 

Hermann’s last-second heave arced high in the air as everyone watched it move almost in slow motion. Hermann didn’t get the bounce he needed as the ball ricocheted off the backboard, missing its target. 

“I was praying that he didn't bank it in somehow,” Sgro said. “I got a hand on it, but he still got the shot up, but thankfully he missed.”

After holding multiple double-digit leads North Penn (5-3) hung on, beating Methacton (7-3) 68-66 in their second game at the Perkiomen Valley Viking Shootout on Wednesday. 

The Knights controlled the pace of the game, cruising in the first half and for much of the third quarter before Methacton fought back. After blowing its lead, North Penn executed when it needed to down the stretch and came out on top. 

North Penn wasted no time, jumping out to a 16-8 lead in the first five minutes. The Knights were efficient from everywhere on the floor, getting good looks from three and in the paint. Ryann Zelt scored eight of his 16 points in the first, knocking down two of his team's four threes in the first quarter. North Penn made Methacton pay when given wide open shots, going 10-for-14 from the field in the first quarter, leading 24-12. 

“We were getting out in transition and moving the ball well in the first quarter,” Sgro said.  “We didn’t allow them to set up their defense when we pushed the ball.”

A three-year starter on varsity, Sgro knows how to run the offense. He controlled the pace in the first quarter while Methacton looked rushed and out of sorts on both ends. Sgro does the little things to help his team win while making the right plays. The senior point guard finished with nine assists and seven rebounds despite lacking size. 

“I’ve learned more from him than he's learned from me,” North Penn head coach John Conrad joked. “He sets the tone defensively, he’s unselfish night in and night out. He doesn't score a ton, but he always finds a way to pad the stat sheet with rebounds, deflections, steals, stops.”

Sgro and backcourt mate Norman Gee have an understanding of how to play with each other. The two have spent the past three seasons with each other and their experience showed in the first half. The guard play from North Penn set the tone right away, allowing them to jump out to a big lead. 

Two and a half minutes into the second quarter, the Knights extended their lead to 28-12. At one point, the Knights were up 38-20, but Methacton started to work their way back into the game. The Warriors weren’t going to erase a nearly 20-point deficit right away, but they chipped away the last couple minutes of the first half with a 5-0 run. 

“We knew they were going to make a run eventually,” Conrad said. “They're well coached and their kids are tough, so I knew it was coming, I just didn't know they would come all the way back.”

Methacton used a 16-4 run extending from the first half to cut the North Penn lead to six in the third quarter. The Knights responded by getting their lead back to double digits, but Methacton closed the third well, trailing 53-48 heading into the final quarter. 

Methacton’s momentum continued as Hermann hit a floater to tie the game, 57-57, with four minutes remaining. Hermann finished the game with 11 points and five rebounds. 

The teams traded buckets in the last few minutes. Gee hit a three to put North Penn up six, before Methacton responded once again. Iemello knocked down a three pointer to tie the game back up at 64 with 2:05 left. The sophomore scored a team-high 16 points, with 10 coming in the second half. 

Gee found Zeltt in the middle of the Methacton zone for a free throw line jumper to give North Penn the lead for good not long after.

“Norman controlled the tempo and we got in the middle of their zone well down the stretch,” Sgro said. “We got good looks and then it came down to getting stops on defense.”

North Penn knew it would have to stay disciplined on defense against Methacton, which runs a lot of motion on offense. The Warriors have multiple players who can hurt you including Christian, who finished with 13 points, and Cam Chilson who had 10. North Penn limited their open looks down the stretch, which was key. 

Gee had the chance to ice the game at the line for the Knights, but missed the front end of a one-and-one. North Penn had a couple of fouls to give, so to run some time off the clock the Knights fouled after the miss. When North Penn was at the foul limit, Methacton had under five seconds to get a shot off which made it more difficult. 

“We need to defend better consistently, we're giving up too many points night in and night out,'' Conrad said. “Tonight we're able to get away with it because we shot exceptionally well but on the nights we don't shoot very well, we have to get more stops.”

By Quarter 
North Penn: 24 | 14 | 15 | 13 || 68
Methacton:  12 | 13 | 23 | 18 || 66

Scoring 
North Penn: Zeltt 16, Gee 15, Deininger 13, McAllister 10, Meade 8, Sgro 6

Methacton: Iemello 16, Christian 15, Hermann 11, Chilson 10, Spang 5, Lagana 3, Daddazio 3, Hull 3

Perkiomen Valley 55, Wissahickon 42

A 23-point performance from Julian Sadler helped Perkiomen Valley defeat Wissahickon 55-42. Sadler led the Vikings win to their fifth straight after losing to Methacton earlier in the season by two points. The junior settled into the game after a slow start offensively, scoring 11 in the fourth quarter to help put the game away. 

Perk Valley used its size advantage over Wissahickon in the first half, which led to second chance points. Morgan McKiney finished with 11 and was a force down low, the Trojans struggled to keep him off the glass. Kyle Shawaluk was also in double figures with 10 points in the first half, including two three pointers. 

Tied at 10, Perk Valley finished the first quarter on a 5-0 run and never trailed for the rest of the game. A strong end to the first half had the Vikings up by eight. PV’s zone gave Wissahickon problems in the second half, holding them to 18 points. The Vikings held a comfortable lead for most of the second half. 

“We took better care of the ball in the second,” Perkiomen Valley head coach Mike Poysden said. “We’re a lot more comfortable playing with a lead than chasing, we did a nice job of controlling the tempo of the game, taking care of the basketball and I thought we really rebounded well.”

Dom Vacchiano had a strong game for Wiss, scoring 17 of his 24 points in the first half. The junior forward knocked down his first four attempts from beyond the arch, finishing 5-for-10. No other Wissahickon player was in double figures. The Trojans struggled in the second half, missing threes and turning the ball over whenever they tried to make a push to get back into the game. 

By Quarter 
Perkiomen Valley: 15 | 17 | 10 | 13 || 55
Wissahickon:  10 | 14 | 8 | 10 || 42

Scoring 
Perkiomen Valley: Sadler 23, Mckinney 11, Shawaluk 10, Murphy 5, Nelson 2, Tagert 2, Hansen 2

Wissahickon: Vacchiano 24, Stout 7, Williams 6, Ryan 3, Slackman 2.