Mitchell, McIver pace North Penn past Souderton
TOWAMENCIN >> It was AJ Mitchell’s show for three quarters Thursday, but when the time came, he gave up the ball.
Mitchell’s drive and kick in the fourth quarter found a wide-open Tali McIver for a dagger 3-pointer to spark McIver’s own strong finish. There was no doubt that Mitchell was giving the ball up either, as it’s quickly becoming a key trait of this Knights team.
With Mitchell and McIver leading the way, North Penn topped visiting Souderton 80-67 Thursday to open SOL Continental play.
“I trusted my teammate and he was going to make it,” Mitchell said of his thought process on that play.
Although North Penn (3-1, 1-0 conference) won its last game, Mitchell felt he didn’t play particularly well and wanted to make up for it on Thursday. He certainly did that, pouring in a game-high 23 points to pace North Penn and the Knights followed his lead.
From the opening tip, the pace was turned up, which is exactly what the Knights wanted. While they have some size with 6-foot-4 Solomon Robinson, 6-foot-4 Matt Swanson and 6-foot-5 Rob Carangi, they’re not really big and they have a lot of guys who are confident shooters.
North Penn scored the first seven points of the game and briefly looked like they were primed to run away with things. Shots did start to fall for Souderton (1-3, 0-1), as the Indians trailed just 23-20 after a wild first quarter but playing that tempo would hurt them later on.
“It was the flow of the game and how fast the possessions were going up and down the floor, they’re a tough team to guard,” Souderton coach Tim Brown said. “You have to live with something and they made us pay for the stuff we were living with. That’s the mark of a good team.”
Souderton couldn’t solve Mitchell in the first half, as the 5-foot-11 senior sliced, swerved and shot his way to 17 first half points. He also had plenty of help, as Robinson deposited 10 first quarter points, McIver had five in the first frame and Swanson gave some key buckets in the second.
Mitchell just dominated the second quarter, canning three 3-pointers and totaling 13 points in the frame as North Penn eked out a 43-39 halftime lead despite big second periods from Souderton’s Kyle Walker and Zach Thatcher.
“We worked really hard in practice and that was a big factor in us making our shots,” Mitchell said. “We work hard every day on things like that, the little things. From the very beginning, we’ve been moving the ball really well and on and off the court, we’re good friends and it just transitions onto the court.”
As hard as they tried, the Knights couldn’t put Souderton away. Led by Sami Chouiraf and Andrew Vince, the Indians managed to take a 48-47 lead with 3:59 left in the third.
With a team lacking significant varsity experience, Brown likes what he’s seen so far, he just wants his squad to tighten up on defense and turn its cohesion into results.
“The whole game, even to the final buzzer the guys were always thinking ‘next play’ and they were always together,” Brown said. “They looked like a team and we talked about it after the game, we were proud of the effort. We’re making strides as far as working together but we have to start clicking and getting some wins.”
No sooner had Souderton taken the lead, McIver responded with a big 3-pointer, followed by a Souderton turnover and a Chris Caputo triple to put NP back in front. Mitchell and McIver combined for the last six points of the third as North Penn took a 58-51 edge into the final frame.
In total, the Knights ended the third on a 11-3 run.
“We have to work like that every single day and transition that into our games,” Mitchell said. “If we do that, we’ll win.”
The Knights extended their lead to 10, but a 5-0 spurt by Souderton cut that in half before the Knights made their last push. Swanson split a pair at the line, McIver hit two at the stripe after being fouled on a drive and finally, with 2:27 left, McIver hit all net on the corner trey after Mitchell found him in the corner.
McIver ended up scoring the last 11 points of the game for North Penn and hit a perfect 12-of-12 at the foul line for the contest as he posted a 21-point night.
“There’s good chemistry and they’re unselfish,” Knights coach Jon Conrad said. “They’re willing to make the extra pass, we’re assisting a lot of our 3-point shots so it’s a good group of kids playing for one another.”
SOUDERTON 20 19 12 16 – 67
NORTH PENN 23 20 15 22 – 80
Souderton: Andrew Vince 2 2-2 6, Jack Towsen 2 0-0 5, Sami Chouiraf 7 2-2 21, Zach Thatcher 6 3-4 16, Mekhi Williams 1 0-0 2, Kyle Walker 6 2-2 17. Totals: 24 9-10 67.
North Penn: Tali McIver 3 12-12 21, AJ Mitchell 9 2-4 23, Chris Caputo 4 0-0 9, Solomon Robinson 5 0-0 10, Matt Swanson 3 3-5 9, Kolby Barrow 3 0-0 8. Totals: 27 17-22 80.
3-pointers: NP – McIver 3, Mitchell 3, Barrow 2, Caputo; S – Chouiraf 5, Walker 3, Towsen, Thatcher.
