North Penn’s early work holds off late 3-point barrage by William Tennent
TOWAMENCIN >> Derek Heiserman emerged from the locker room with a hard hat topping his head, a reward for the North Penn boys basketball senior’s effort in the 56-43 win over William Tennent Friday night.
“It’s based on this book (The Hard Hat by Jon Gordon) about this lacrosse player that passed away,” Heiserman said. “He did anything for his team, so my coach gives it out after every game to the player that gives the most for his team.”
Heiserman definitely deserved the head ware for the work he and David Giuliani did inside for the Suburban One League Continental Conference leaders. The duo combined for 25 points — Heiserman scoring 12 while Giuliani had 10 of his 13 in the first half — as the Knights built a 17-point advantage in the third quarter before weathering a late 3-point barrage by the visiting Panthers.
“We normally get subbed in for each other, so we’re not normally in the game together but when we’re in the game together it’s hard to stop both of us,” said Heiserman, who recently verbally committed to Division III Wilkes University.
BOYS #BASKETBALL: @npknightsbball‘s @DerekHeiserman makes a layup off David Giuliani’s deflected pass 1Q vs. William Tennent. pic.twitter.com/iPRaBOULjc
— Mike Cabrey (@mpcabrey) January 21, 2017
Reece Udinski had a game-high 16 points — half coming in the fourth when he finished 8-for-8 from the foul line — for the Knights, who took the lead for good with an 11-2 run to finish the first quarter.
“We played well,” Heiserman said. “We came out strong in the first quarter and got a big lead. We kind of struggled a little bit in the second, just maintained the lead and maintained it throughout the game.”
North Penn (12-4, 7-1 conference) opened the second half with a 14-5 burst for a 40-25 lead in the third, but Tennent made things a little interesting by knocking down four 3-pointers in pulling within seven early in the fourth. The Panthers, however, could pull no closer and the Knights secured their second straight win.
“That Number Three (Pat McCauley) and 24 (Dave West), they shot exceptionally well,” North Penn coach John Conrad said. “I don’t know how much they ended up with, but it just seemed like every time we got a double-digit lead, they would make a pretty deep three. We just got to get better at learning how to play with a lead.”
The victory means the Knights guaranteed themselves a better regular-season finish than each of the last three years when NP went 11-11 before bowing out in the District 1-AAAA first round.
“This is my first time on varsity with a winning record,” Heiserman said. “So, it’s a big accomplishment. We’re looking forward to finishing out the season strong.”
The Knights posted 12 wins in the 2012-2013 season, a total this North Penn side can better Saturday when it hosts Boyertown at 4 p.m.
“To be honest, I’m just fortunate enough to be surrounded by these guys. And they’re a great group of kids, great group of families,” Conrad said. “So, we feel like we got good chemistry and like I said it’s just a great group of seniors that are just kind of leading it. I’m just grateful to be along for it.”
West hit five 3-pointers for a team-high 15 points for William Tennent (3-12, 0-7). McCauley knocked down a trio of threes in the fourth and scored 11 points. The Panthers are back in action Tuesday visiting Central Bucks South.
The Knights led by as much as 11 in the first half before they went into the break up 28-20. Two Udinski free throws and a Nate O’Donnell three to begin the third quarter extended the advantage to 13.
Giuliani’s three-point play putting back his own miss made it a 38-22 lead at 4:11. West hit a three but four straight points from Heiserman put the Knights up 42-25. Another West triple cut NP’s lead to 44-31 entering the fourth.
A Heiserman basket opened the final quarter but McCauley connected on consecutive threes while a Markeith Baxter putback cut the Panthers’ deficit down to 46-39.
“We were just trying to contain them as well as we could,’ Heiserman said. “Twenty-four (West), he was just launching threes and they were just kept going down so we were just trying to contain him and number three (McCauley), so just tried to do our best.”
BOYS #BASKETBALL: @npknightsbball‘s David Giuliani puts back his own miss & is fouled 3Q vs. William Tennent. He completed the 3-point play. pic.twitter.com/2Bx7gFgfN1
— Mike Cabrey (@mpcabrey) January 21, 2017
Udinski, however, drew a foul on a drive and hit both free throws at 5:13 with a Lance Ford putback giving the Knights an 11-point lead.
McCauley drained another three but Chris Coleman’s basket had NP back up double digits and from there the Panthers collected just one more point.
William Tennent even 9-9 in the first quarter with four straight points but an Udinski three began a 9-0 run that gave North Pen an 18-9 advantage after a Giuliani bucket. Two Heiserman free throws had North Penn leading 20-11 heading to the second.
Back-to-back Giuliani baskets put the Knights up 24-13. Tennent scored seven of the next nine, cutting the margin to 26-20 after a Kip Mooney free throw with 43.3 seconds left but Giuliani scored inside for an eight-point NP edge at halftime.
North Penn 56, William Tennent 43
William Tennent 11 9 11 12 — 43
North Penn 20 8 16 12 — 56
William Tennent: Dave West 5 0-0 15; Pat McCauley 3 2-2 11; David Gassanova 3 0-0 6; Markeith Baxter 2 1-3 5; Jorge Soto 1 1-2 3; Brendan Carter 1 0-0 2; Kip Mooney 0 1-2 1. Totals 15 5-9 43.
North Penn: Reece Udinski 3 8-8 16; David Giuliani 6 1-1 13; Derek Heiserman 5 2-2 12; Nate O’Donnell 2 0-0 5; Chris Coleman 2 0-2 4; Lance Ford 1 0-0 2; Noah Kwortnik 1 0-0 2; AJ Mitchell 1 0-0 2. Totals 21 11-13 56.
Three-pointers: WT-West 5, McCauley 3; NP-Udinski 2, O’Donnell.
Top Photo: North Penn’s David Giuliani tries to put up a shot past William Tennent’s Jorge Soto during their game on Friday, Jan. 20, 2017. (Bob Raines/Digital First Media)
