Norristown starts fast, rolls over Pottsgrove
WEST NORRITON >> Norristown and Pottsgrove met in the third place consolation game of the 42nd Annual Triangle Club Basketball Tournament Tuesday night at Norristown Area High School. One school played like it was in the championship game and the other did not.
Norristown jumped out to a 15-5 lead and cruised to a 62-37 win on its home floor.
“As a team we were disappointed that we took a loss,” Norristown’s Darryl Carr said of the first round of the tournament against Hatboro-Horsham. “This is the second year in a row we lost in the Triangle Tournament. We were just trying to get a win. (Monday) we felt like we should have won, but we just loss. We thought about it, coached snapped at us and we came out hard today to try to get a streak going again.”
The Eagles half-court trap defense made the Falcons uncomfortable for the entire game, which led to turnovers and easy fast-break points for Norristown.
“That’s something we have to work on,” Norristown coach Mike Evans said, “get easy transition points. We try to get the tempo going, create chaos and get some easy buckets. That’s what we aim to do.”
The game was really put away in the third quarter. Already leading by 15, the Eagles went on a 19-3 run into the fourth that created an insurmountable deficit for the Falcons.
Norristown led by 13 in the final seconds of the first half before getting a nice little boost heading into the locker room. Point guard Amir Carter took the inbounds pass from under his own basket with three seconds left and banked home a three-pointer from just over half-court.
Tyrique Lyons and Carter led Norristown with 14 points each and Carr added 13.
Lyons is a new member of the team this year and everyone agrees – he brings some extra momentum to the offense.
“He attacks the basket hard,” Evans said. “He gets everybody else going. Once he gets the easy buckets everybody else starts to get comfortable. He brings that aggressiveness to this team. He’s a good fit to have out there with us.”
“He’s like a spark for us,” Carr added. “When he scores, it gets everybody else going. He helps us out a lot.”
Desmond Austin led the Falcons in scoring with 12 points.
Pottsgrove’s next highest scorer had just six points.
“We’re in an offensive funk right now,” Pottsgrove coach Scott Palladino said. “We’re just not shooting the basketball well. Tonight we didn’t stop the dribble penetration, the fast break, we didn’t stop the ball. We have to get back in the gym and get some practice.
“We have five or six days before our next game. We’ve got to start shooting the basketball better. We’re getting open looks and we’re just not making them.”
