North Penn rallies past Hatboro-Horsham
HORSHAM >> If North Penn does earn a District 1-AAAA playoff nod on Sunday, the Knights are going into the postseason exactly the way they want.
“We said before the game that we’re in playoff basketball already — it’s win or go home,” the Knights’ J.J. Melchior said following Thursday night’s game at Hatboro-Horsham. “We knew we had to come out and win if we had any chance of being picked on Sunday to get in. I thought we went out and took care of business and I hope we get in.
“I think we turned up the intensity on defense,” Melchior said. “We got some steals, we started hitting some shots, and just changed the momentum of the game.”
North Penn overcame an early 12-3 deficit, shut down the Hatters in the fourth quarter, and would get key contributions from all throughout the lineup to earn a 60-53 win over rival Hatboro, as North Penn won five of its last six games to finish the regular season 11-11.
“I don’t know what it is about us, but we start slow and we’re playing well finally,” said Knights coach John Conrad, whose team was right on the 32-team playoff bubble heading into this week, ranked 33rd. “We felt like we took care of what we could do. We won Tuesday and and we won tonight.
“I thought our seniors, J.J. and Matty (Pickford) really stepped up, and played their best basketball when we really needed it tonight.”
A pair of threes by Melchior in the second quarter helped tilt the contest in North Penn’s favor, as the Knights would go on to connect 10 times from three-point range, including a pair by Lance Lindsay-Ford (team-high 13 points) in the fourth quarter.
Lindsay-Ford’s second three broke a 51-51 tie and put North Penn in front for good. Free throws by Reece Udinski helped keep North Penn in control and then Melchior — on an inbounds pass — hit a wide open Pickford in stride down court to stretch the margin to 58-51 in the final minute, locking it up for the Knights.
North Penn allowed just eight points in the final quarter.
“Hatboro was getting good looks (early) and we just had to step up our defense,” Udinski said. “I think we just wanted it a lot more in the second half than we did in the first half.”
Hatboro jumped out to a 12-3 lead early, capped by a three by Clifton Moore (game-high 18 points).
The Hatters (11-11) were finding open shots — with Kyle Katz hitting a pair of three-pointers in the first — and Jay Davis was weaving his way to the basket through traffic, adding six points in the opening half for the Hatters.
Lindsay-Ford’s three at the buzzer brought the Knights within 16-13 at the end of the first quarter and Udinski would later hit one of two foul shots to cut the margin to a single point at 20-19 early in the second.
Hatboro used one final push to stretch the margin to seven at the break, but the second half belonged to North Penn.
