City of Basketball Love

Konner Metz (@konner_metz)
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WEST PHILADELPHIA — The boys of North Penn made history Saturday afternoon.

Team after team, year after year, the Knights program could never break through in the state playoffs with a victory. That all changed with Saturday’s win in the opening round of the 6A states bracket. 

“I feel like we’re all hyped and proud that we did it,” junior guard Norman Gee said with a beaming smile. “We were waiting for this moment.”

North Penn defeated Central 64-52 at West Philadelphia High School for their first program victory in states ever. The Knights (19-8) led nearly wire-to-wire in convincing fashion, handling the Lancers (16-12) to clinch a second-round spot.

Gee was on the 2020 North Penn squad that qualified for states but lost in their first game. But since, the Knights have become faster and more imposing on defenses, just as they were versus Central on Saturday.

“I feel like now, we’re more of a fast team,” Gee said of this year’s group. “We’re just outrunning people, getting in transition and pushing the ball.”

“They’re just a good group of kids,” North Penn 12-year head coach John Conrad said. “They work hard. It’s a special group of kids. We show up every day, we love being around each stole the show, pouring in a team-high 18 points, with many buckets coming on nifty drives to other.”

Gee had 10 points, including a pair of three-pointers, but his teammate Ryan Deininger often the left for the southpaw forward. 

Deininger got the Knights going early with two consecutive contested lay-ins, and helped his team to a 20-11 lead after one quarter with another bucket through contact (his third of the frame).

“Lefties are weird, I think everybody knows that,” Conrad said. “When we get him to the front of the rim, he makes a difference. We just tried to create some opportunities for him to do that and he did.”

In the second quarter he hit a triple to push the advantage to double digits, and secured a steal to end the half on a high note, the Knights up 33-21. Central had no answer for Deininger’s size or craft maneuvers to the cup.

“It was the ball screens helping out a lot,” the senior Deininger said. “The plays we were running, just get at the top of the key, hesitate and go to the left. It worked a couple times, it got me flowing to put up some other options.

“I hit some shots today. I’ve actually been struggling shooting in the past couple games, but I’m glad I found my shot again for states.”

Junior Teddy McAllister had nine points and two threes, while starting seniors Mario Sgro and Ryan Zeltt each added six points to help make program history. The Lancers struggled to keep pace, with not as many options to go to on offense. Star guard Sizwe Morris-Louis tallied a game-high 22 points, getting inside the lane often and finishing tough looks.

Aside from that, the Central offense looked discombobulated, committing 14 turnovers. Malachi Brown and Jasir Dollard each drained two deep shots, but inside the arc, the Lancers were much less effective than their opponents. 

After an early deficit, Central cut the score to 23-21, getting their contingent of fans hyped. But North Penn answered on two straight possessions, locking down on defense for what seemed like an entire minute without allowing any clear looks at the basket.

“Really today, I thought the difference was defensively,” Conrad said. “I think they closed to 23-21, then we went on a little 10-0 run and then the half. And that was all defensive. I think one leads to the other. We get good stops, we get easy buckets in transition. It kind of gets us going.”

A McAllister and-one sent the Knights to a 41-27 lead, and Deininger made it an even bigger scoring stretch with a mid-range jumper to effectively deal the knockout punch, putting Central down 47-27 in the late third quarter. The final gap of 12 was a little less than what the game felt, as Morris-Louis added on a handful of buckets in the final minutes with North Penn’s starters out.

“We try to get blowouts,” Gee said. “It’s not just wins. We try to blow out teams and make the other team that we’re about to play think, ‘OK, this team’s not a team to mess with.’”

That next team will be the Coatesville Red Raiders (19-9), who took down Scranton 68-58 on Saturday to advance to the second round of states. The Knights downed Coatesville earlier in district play, 64-60, a game that clinched North Penn a spot in the state tournament.

McAllister had three long balls for a team-high 15 points in the win last month, while Gee, Deininger, and Sgro all contributed double digits as well. Corey Meade came off the bench for eight points against Coatesville, and will certainly play an offensive role, despite just four points alongside four fouls in the win over Central. 

The rematch with the Red Raiders will be this Wednesday night, with a spot in the state quarterfinals on the line. There’s some time for Conrad’s group to celebrate history, but their eyes are on extending that history further into March.

“It feels good, [but] I hope we can be the first to win two as well,” Deininger said. “We celebrated a little bit [in the locker room], and then our coach told us, we would also be the first team to win a second one.”

“We’re gonna be blasting music, just getting ready for our next game,” Gee said. “This weekend, we’re gonna celebrate, go out to eat or something. But this Monday, it’s back to grinding.”

By Quarter
Central:        11  | 10 | 10 | 21 ||  52
North Penn:  20 | 13 | 14 | 17 ||  64
Scoring
Central: Sizwe Morris-Louis 22, Jasir Dollard 8, Malachi Brown 6, Robert Martin 5, Tyriq Taylor 3, Salim Kelly 2, Spencer Rosman 2, Erik Borgia 2, Cedric Zellars 2

North Penn: Ryan Deininger 18, Norman Gee 10, Teddy McAllister 9, Mario Sgro 6, Ryan Zeltt 6, Lee Hammond 5, Ahmaar Godhania 4, Corey Meade 4, Trey Simpson 2