City of Basketball Love

Dan Arkans (@danarkans)
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TOWAMENCIN — Something special usually happens when North Penn and Souderton collide in any sport.

When playoff stakes are added during the final weeks of the regular season, the rivalry gets amped up a couple more decibels. 

That was the case Tuesday night as the Knights and Indians collided in boys basketball with district playoff hopes on the line. Despite trailing by 11 points with six minutes to go, North Penn pulled off a 53-50 stunner over its rival with a 22-8 run to finish the game.

“I didn’t get a lot of playing time my junior year,” North Penn senior Tre Simpson said. “I was on JV my sophomore year. This is my first year being able to contribute. I spent the entire year daydreaming, night dreaming about being in the playoffs and making an impact like this, being a part of a team like this.”

Simpson was a huge factor all night, finishing with 15 points and 12 rebounds. He dominated the first half with nine points and eight rebounds as North Penn stuck within striking distance, trailing 29-24 at the break in a more free-flowing first 16 minutes.

“The past couple of games I felt myself not as aggressive as I know I can be,” Simpson said. “Getting into this game, my mentality was to be aggressive. Every board is mine. Everything is mine. I know what I am capable of. I haven’t done it for a couple of games, so it feels good to go do it today.”

The win draws North Penn even at 9-9 with four games remaining, while dropping the Indians one game under .500 at 9-10. The Knights are currently 26th in the District 1 Class 6A rankings, while Souderton is 28th with the top 24 making the postseason.

“We knew this game was crucial,” NP senior Norman Gee said. “If we lost, our chances were very low. We have to use it to ourselves as motivation and we got it done. It’s the last time I play them. It’s great to go out with a ‘W.’”

Indeed, the Knights had plenty of motivation entering the game. The Souderton faithful reminded them what happened last time — a 61-36 Indians victory Dec. 12.

“We were thinking about it and said, ‘We are not losing by 30 again,” Gee said. “We had to put every single thing into the game to beat them. I really wanted to beat them. The whole team really wanted to beat them. We ended up doing that.” 

Not before some dramatics, though. Souderton and head coach Okoteh Sackitay played around with a variety of presses, traps and zones to keep the ball away from Simpson in the second half. This led to low scoring in the third quarter, although the Indians still felt good with a 37-29 advantage headed into the final frame.

Things didn’t look to change much in the fourth after a bucket from football star Danny Dyches gave Souderton a 42-31 lead with six minutes to play. But North Penn was saving its best play for the final stretch run.

“Third quarter was the ugliest basketball I have ever seen, it really was bad,” NP head coach John Conrad said. “Give our guys credit, they stayed the course and good things happened.”

The Knights held their composure and the shots started to fall. First, it was a pull-up 3-pointer from Lee Hammond that caught Souderton’s attention, followed by a long ball from Gee that had the Knights down 44-39 with 3:32 to go. That duo was just getting started as both went deep again, Gee delivering a step-back 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 46-45 with 2:08 to play.

“The season is coming to an end,” Gee said. “Moments like that you never forget.” 
Closing time was Simpson’s time. The senior center gave North Penn a 47-46 lead with 1:53 to go off the glass, its first lead since 14-13. Simpson added two more buckets down the stretch, and, after Hammond hit a pair of free throws, North Penn led 53-50 with 19 seconds to go.

“We spent a lot of games this season behind, and a lot of games we struggled to get back,” Simpson said. “To be able to do it and in a fashion like this against a team like that is amazing. It’s amazing especially with the stakes of this game — both of us fighting for a playoff spot. It’s a great team on both sides. It feels incredible. It’s hard to come up with words for this.” 

Souderton struggled in its final possession, but Chanse Salone was able to get off a well-defended attempt at a 3-pointer that went off the rim, giving NP the much-needed victory.

“We were very fortunate to get out of here with one tonight,” Conrad said. “We are just trying to get better each day. We will see what happens. If we just keep winning we need to get some help. We just want to win one game at a time. It’s too many numbers to factor it all in.”

By Quarter

North Penn 7 | 17 | 5 | 24 || 53

Souderton 9 | 20 | 8 | 13 || 50

Scoring

North Penn: Godhania 10; Hammond 8; Gee 16; Atkinson 2; Meade 2; Simpson 15

Souderton: Salone 5; Sackor 15; Watkins 14; Dyches 7; Kikonjo 9