Council Rock North boys basketball struggles with late pressure from North Penn (PHOTO GALLERY)
Council Rock North senior Noah Ehlin (center) takes the ball to the basket, defended by North Penn seniors Paul Ford (2, left) and Derek Heiserman (42,right) in season opener against the Knights Dec. 9, 2016 at Upper Moreland High School, Willow Grove, Pa. (Steve Sherman – 21st-Century Media)
WILLOW GROVE – With a lot of help from sixth man Ryan Costello, Council Rock North got out to a double-digit lead on Suburban One Continental League rival North Penn in a season opener for both teams Friday night at Upper Moreland.
Proving the point that it’s not how you start but rather, how you finish, the Knights outpaced the Indians, 53-47, in head coach Jesse Krasna’s first ever game at the helm.
“Our intensity was there. We were defending really well. We were getting out on the break and we were playing the way we really wanted to play from the start,” said CR North senior Noah Ehlin. “We got a little antsy towards the end as they started to pick up pressure and we kind of laid back on defense and I think that’s what hurt us.”
That pressure helped North Penn close a 10-point gap in the second quarter to a single point by the intermission, and, thanks to an 8-point period from leading scorer David Guiliani (14 pts.), the Knights took the lead early in the third quarter and never looked back.
“We went to a man-full court (defense) halfway through the second quarter to try to speed the game up,” said North Penn head coach John Conrad. “I thought that’s when we finally got into a rhythm and started making some shots.”
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While the Knights got a bucket from Guiliani and a 3-pointer from junior A.J. Catanzaro (10 pts.) early on in the second quarter, it wasn’t until the final minute and a half of the period that they closed the gap with the Indians. They did it with help from sophomore A.J. Mitchell, who drained five of his seven points in the second quarter along with senior Paul Ford, who canned a 3-pointer with less than 4 seconds to go in the first half.
“Once we got the tempo going, I thought our kids settled in and shot better,” added Conrad. “Early on, it looked like we were on our heels and they were the aggressors.”
The tipoff game actually started slow with both teams still in single digits more than halfway through the initial frame. The Rock received a huge boost, however, from senior reserve guard Ryan Costello, who notched a pair of 3-pointers late in the first quarter then canned another trey to help expand North’s edge to 10 points early on in the second.
Costello wound up leading the Indians’ scoring effort with 16 points, a performance that included four three-pointers.
“He’s a great shooter and we play AAU (ball) with each other so when I’m running the point, I can find him wherever,” explained Ehlin. “He hits big threes for us and he really helped us out tonight, for sure.”
North Penn continued its scoring spurt in the third quarter with Ford starting things off with a field goal, Guiliani hitting for three, and senior Noah Kwortnik (4 pts.) canning a backdoor layup. The Knights continued the onslaught as junior Chris Coleman capped off and end-to-end drive to the basket with a layup and Guiliani finished off a 12-2 run by the opponent with a layup and the and-one that put the Knights on top to stay, 36-27.
Defensively, North Penn’s zone defense after the break stymied the Indians, who tallied their lowest point total in the game with just four field goals for eight points.
“I thought they did a really nice job changing up their defense, especially when we were trying to play comeback,” said Krasna. “That forced us to slow down, identify what kind of defense it was and I thought it was really effective.”
“We got good looks but it took a lot of time; we needed to get shots up quickly since we were playing from behind.”
With the Rock trailing 38-33 heading into the final frame, North closed an ever-widening gap to 46-42 with a 5-0 run from junior Drew Burton (7 points), a recent transfer from Conwell-Egan Catholic.
Try as they might to get Burton open for yet another shot from the perimeter, the Indians missed with 1:30 to go and a putback basket by Coleman extended the Knights’ edge to six at 48-42.
“It’s tough,” said Krasna. “It was the first game and there were a little bit of extra jitters but we had a lot of guys who stepped up and made big plays.
“We just couldn’t quite get over the hump.”
“The good news is we were able to get good looks. I would be more worried if we didn’t. Those shots will start to go down. It’s just a matter of playing in more game situations.”
North Penn eventually won the battle by six, though the game would not have been that close, had not the Knights struggled from the foul line in the fourth quarter. North Penn shot just 7-of-15 from the charity stripe in the final period.
While the Knights made only half of their free throws in the contest, at least North Penn got to the foul line 22 times in the non-league opener, part of a double-header that also featured Upper Perkiomen vs. the home team Upper Moreland in the nightcap.
For its part, Council Rock North got to the foul line just seven times on the night.
Meanwhile, sister school CR South opened its first season under head coach Derek Wright with a 56-26 win over Lower Moreland Friday night in the Hatboro-Horsham Tipoff Classic.
The Golden Hawks were paced by seniors Austin Thomas, Alex Nordenholt and Kevin Newbert. Thomas led the way with 12 points while Nordenholt and Newbert added 10 points, apiece. No one else reached double-digits for CR South though the Hawks had nine players in the scoring column.
The Hatters outpaced William Tennent 71-41 in the nightcap. The action continues Saturday with CR South taking on Hatboro at 7:30 p.m. in the championship. Tennent faces Lower Moreland at 3:45 in the consolation.
Back at Upper Moreland where the matchups were predetermined, Rock North will take on the host team Bears – who lost last night 46-43 to Upper Perkiomen – at 6:30 p.m. Saturday and North Penn will face Upper Perk at 5 p.m.
Contact Steve Sherman at ssherman@21st-Centurymedia.com or @BucksLocalSport on Twitter
North Penn 53, Council Rock North 47
(Dec. 9 at Upper Moreland HS)
CR NORTH 14 11 8 14 – 47
NORTH PENN 8 16 14 15 – 53
CR NORTH — Noah Ehlin 7, Eric Levine 6, Drew Burton 7, James Kosyla 9, Ryan Costello 16, Tyler Shields 2; TOTALS — 19 4-7 47.
NORTH PENN — Paul Ford 7, A.J. Mitchell 7, David Guiliani 14, Chris Coleman 9, Derek Heiserman 2, A.J. Catanzaro 10, Noah Kwortnik 4; TOTALS — 18 11-22 53.
3-POINT GOALS: CRN — Costello 4, Burton; NP — Ford, Mitchell, Guiliani, Coleman, Catanzaro 2.
