Defense keys North Penn’s 3rd-quarter run in win over Souderton

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TOWAMENCIN >> After his two years at Phil-Mont Christian, David Giuliani know what winning in basketball feels like.

The Falcons reached the PIAA Class A quarterfinals last season and during his time at the program posted 51 victories.

Now at North Penn, Giuliani is trying to create that same atmosphere with the Knights boys basketball team.

“One of the big things that I’m trying to do as one of the seniors and one of the senior captains, I’m trying to integrate my success from last year into the season this year,” he said. “Cause I know how good it feels to be on that winning team. I know how it feels to have the target on your back. I want everybody else on my team to experience that because it’s a great feeling.”

Giuliani did his part on the court Tuesday night against visiting Souderton to keep North Penn perfect in the Suburban One League Continental Conference. He finished with a game-high 19 points, six coming during a 16-3 run to finish off the third quarter that turned a three-point deficit into a 10-point advantage as the Knights pulled away for 56-40 victory.

“Our halftime talk consisted of a lot of defense so we came out with a lot of defensive intensity,” Giuliani said. “The one kid on our team, Noah Kwortnik, really locked up their best scorer (Mike Bealer) the second half of the game. So that was really the big difference in the game I think.”

Bealer knocked down four three-pointers and collected 18 points for the Indians, but only five of those came in the second half. His basket off a backdoor cut made it 26-23 early in the third. North Penn (7-3, 3-0 conference) scored 24 of the next 29 points to lead 47-31 before Bealer hit his final three.

“We put Reece Udinski and Noah on Bealer and we told them to face-guard him and they did a tremendous job,” Knights coach John Conrad said. “Reece started out and they we got him a rest and put Noah in. I thought Noah really kind of gave us that energy boost we needed off the bench. He’s just a great teammate and whatever it takes, he’s there for you.”

Udinski and Chris Coleman each scored 10 points for the Knights (7-3, 3-0). AJ Mitchell added nine points while Kwortnik had eight points.

“It all starts down on the defense,” Conrad said. “I thought we rebounded really well and then we transitioned. And our kids want to play fast but it’s got to start with stops and then we can rebound and then get out from there. And then in the halfcourt I think our kids did a real nice job of getting the ball to David inside.”

Seniors Ricky Johns and Lance Ford dressed but did not play for North Penn, Conrad citing “discipline.”

Noah Horas chipped in 10 points for Souderton (3-6, 1-2), which led 24-23 at halftime. But after Bealer’s basket made the margin 26-23, Big Red was hampered by turnovers and missed shots, which allowed North Penn to surge ahead.

“Things just got a little crazy for us. They were grabbing the o-boards and most of all we just lost our composure,” Souderton first-year coach Tim Brown said. “That’s something we’ve been working on is runs like that are going to happen, stuff like that is going to happen. We just got to stick to playing Souderton basketball. “

The Indians found some offense late in the fourth, but by then they were trailing by double-digits and could not avoid a four straight loss.

“I think we’re on the right track. We keep putting together like 26 minutes of good basketball,” Brown said. “We just need that extra six minutes and we’ll be good.”

Both teams have SOL Continental contests Friday. North Penn visits Central Bucks South while Souderton is home against Central Bucks West.

North Penn rattled off 14 consecutive points in the third to take the lead for good Tuesday night. Coleman scored to pull the Knights within 27-26 before back-to-back buckets by Giuliani made it 29-26 NP.

Coleman pushed the ball upcourt for a layup for a 35-26 advantage with a pair of Udinski free throw pushing the lead to 11 before Horas hit a three-pointer. But Giuliani’s basket inside in the final seconds had the Knights up 39-29 after three quarters.

“They were face-guarding Mike which kind of threw us out of our stuff,” Brown said. “I think they kind of hurried us up and their intensity picked up, their energy picked up and that kind of sped us up. We didn’t play much of our game in the second half.”

North Penn opened the fourth with an 8-2 run Giuliani by fighting through a foul to convert a layup after his steal with 3:10 left to make it 47-31.

“It was a fun game, especially when you score a lot it feels good,” said Giuliani, who played on the NP junior varsity as a ninth grader at Pennbrook Middle School before he attended Phil-Mont Christian. “But I had to credit my teammates for getting me the ball in the right positions to get those points cause whenever I was open they found me the ball.”

Bealer scored eight points in the opening quarter, hitting on a deep three to put the Indians up 14-9.

Kwortnik converted a three-point play after rebounding a missed free throw at 54.5 seconds while Coleman banked in a tough shot in transition to tie the contest 14-14 after eight minutes.

The lead for either team in the second quarter was larger than two, with Souderton going into the half up 24-23 after an Antonio Rodriguez free throw with 8.9 seconds left.

North Penn 56, Souderton 40
Souderton          14 10   5 11 — 40
North Penn        14   9 16 17 — 56
Souderton: Mike Bealer 6 2-2 18; Noah Horas 4 0-0 10; Antonio Rodriguez 2 1-2 5; Trevor Watts 2 0-0 4; Matt Cartwright 1 0-0 3. Totals 15 3-4 40.
North Penn: David Giuliani 4 1-3 19; Chris Coleman 5 0-5 10; Reece Udinski 2 6-6 10; AJ Mitchell 2 5-6 9; Noah Kwortnike 3 2-3 8. Totals 21 14-23 56.
Three-pointers: S-Bealer 4, Horas 2, Cartwright.

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Mike Cabrey

Mike Cabrey
Mike Cabrey is the Assistant Sports Editor for The Reporter and Montgomery News. Email him at mcabrey@thereporteronline.com.

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