Robinson’s career night leads North Penn past William Tennent in OT

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TOWAMENCIN >> With his arm outstretched, David Robinson waited until the opposing player started to lift the ball over his head then struck.

Forcing the ball from the hands of the William Tennent player, Robinson surged down the floor, all 6-foot-6 of him gliding toward the other rim, where he rose and slammed home a two-handed dunk. It wasn’t his last basket and it probably wasn’t even his most impressive, but it was a capper, giving North Penn a six-point lead in overtime.

After missing a few too many easy ones in the first half, Robinson took over in the second half and finished up with 38 points and 20 rebounds as the Knights rallied to top Tennent 85-77 in overtime.

“It was me just playing the game, letting everything come to me and not forcing anything,” the junior forward said. “I had to focus, jump a little higher and attack the rim. We weren’t realizing how open the shots we were getting actually were.”

Robinson spent last season playing for Academy of the New Church but didn’t feel the kind of heart or competitiveness he’s gotten so far with North Penn (4-4, 1-2 SOL Continental) this season. He’s been friends with most of his teammates for a while and has played with Knights guard AJ Mitchell since the third grade, so it was a pretty easy transition during preseason.

North Penn’s had a habit of starting slow this season and such was the case for Robinson on Tuesday.  The big man had a size and athletic advantage over the Panthers, but kept coming up short on his first attempt. It wasn’t a big deal, because he just went right back up and got the rebound for a second or third try before the ball went in.

The forward had 13 of his 20 boards come on the offensive end.

“We wore them down with all those rebounds because he missed so many chippies, but he continued to work and he stayed positive,” Knights coach John Conrad said. “He had a big second half and really carried us. I thought he played a really good second half.”

Robinson’s skill set does match his appearance. With his height and his long limbs, he looks like a classic low-block post grinder but once he gets the ball in his hands, the truth quickly reveals itself. Whether it was steal the ball and dribbling into the open floor or Euro-stepping his way around a defender, Robinson showed the type of player he used to be.

The junior said he had a growth spurt between his freshman and sophomore years, but managed to retain his old skills to make the best of both worlds.

“When they see the scouting report, they see 6-6 big man but I think I can move faster than any big man in the conference,” Robinson said. “I feel like I have that advantage, I’m quicker, I have fast hands and I can shoot the ball too.

“I used to be small, so I had to have the guard skills in me. Then I got bigger, I grew four inches in a year so I just transitioned but kept those guard skills with me.”

Neither team started all that well and Tennent led 14-13 after one thanks to a late hoop by Markeith Baxter. The first half was quite even, with both teams exchanging baskets and short scoring runs and neither squad really building much of an advantage.

Tennent (4-4, 0-2) trailed by six in the second quarter but rallied to make it 28-28 before North Penn’s Chris Coleman buried a 3-pointer and sent the Knights into the break leading 31-28. Coleman had a big night himself, scoring 22 points while hitting a trio of 3-pointers while Mitchell had 13 points, seven assists and four steals.

“At the beginning of the year we knew AJ Mitchell would have to score every game for us and I thought he did that really well tonight,” Conrad said. “There were a lot of opportunities for Chris and I thought Chris had a nice game. He needs to be more involved from the get-go on a regular basis, he can fade in and out games so he needs to be more focused and involved.”

Coleman did a lot of work in the third, scoring nine in the frame as North Penn opened up a 56-48 lead. The play of the quarter though, went to the guy who was scoring at will all night.

Robinson blocked a drive by Baxter, coming down with the rebound and time winding down in the frame. He quickly threw a long outlet to Mitchell, but sensing he put a little too much on it, Robinson chased after the play. At the far baseline, Mitchell went up and caught the ball and still in mid-air, threw it back to the trailing Robinson who then put up a buzzer-beater to conclude the period.

“That’s me and AJ’s chemistry,” Robinson said. “I knew he was going to get back to me, that’s the connection we have.”

Tennent, despite losing and snapping a three-game win streak, played tough and never let North Penn really pull away. The Panthers had three players in double figures, led by Pat McCauley’s 22 points and supported by 14 from Baxter and 12 from David West. Ben Satz, Kip Mooney and Michael Mulville all scored seven.

All game, the Panthers were able to generate a lot of 3-point opportunities and knocked plenty of them down, hitting 10 shots from outside the arc as a team. Tennent showed a lot of fight by putting together a 10-0 run that flipped a 58-53 deficit into a 63-58 lead with 3:27 left.

They did shoot just 11-of-20 at the foul line, including two key misses in the fourth that would have made the Knights’ rally much more difficult.

Robinson scored six points in the fourth, including a lay-up after a gorgeous behind-the-back pass by Tali McIver to cut it to 64-62 but the biggest bucket of the game came from a guy not known for his scoring. Senior AJ Catanzaro has been North Penn’s defensive grinder this season, but after Mitchell missed a corner trey with 10 seconds left, the guard was the one crashing to the glass and putting home the miss to knot the game up.

“He’s the leader of the team,” Robinson said. “The rest of us seeing him get that bucket, we all said ‘I have to go get mine now too.’”

The forward certainly got his in the extra period, scoring the first six North Penn points, adding a traditional three-point play and getting his last points on a layup through contact to put North Penn up 79-69 with 1:07 to go.

Tennent travels to CB South on Friday still in search of its first SOL Continental win. North Penn’s next league game is next week, but the Knights will travel to Upper Merion on Saturday.

“I told my coach after the fourth quarter that ‘I got you,’” Robinson said. “I knew I had to go off.”

NORTH PENN 85, WILLIAM TENNENT 77 (OT)
WILLIAM TENNENT 14 14 20 16 13 – 77
NORTH PENN 13 18 25 8 21 – 85
WT: Pat McCauley 8 1-4 22, Michael Mulville 2 3-6 7, Markeith Baxter 5 4-4 14, Nick Metzler 1 0-1 2, David West 4 1-2 12, Kip Mooney 3 0-0 7, Derrick Cosenza 3 0-0 6, Ben Satz 2 2-3 7. Nonscoring: Ryan Savage. Totals: 28 11-20 77.
NP: David Robinson 17 4-9 38, AJ Mitchell 4 4-4 13, AJ Catanzaro 2 1-3 6, Chris Coleman 8 3-5 22, Joey Lindsay 0 2-2 2, Solomon Robinson 2 0-2 4. Nonscoring: Nathan Hartman, Chris Caputo. Totals: 33 14-25 85.
3-pointers: NP – Coleman 3, Catanzaro, Mitchell; WT – McCauley 5, West 3, Mooney, Satz.

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Andrew Robinson

Andrew Robinson
Montgomery Media/Lansdale Reporter sports writer.

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