Norristown’s defense leads the way in win over Methacton

WEST NORRITON >> Norristown’s defense forced seven Methacton turnovers in the first quarter Thursday night and the Eagles were just getting started.

Norristown ended up grabbing 16 turnovers in the game and frustrated the Warriors offense all night while picking up a 58-48 win in a matchup between the top two teams in the Pioneer Athletic Conference Liberty Division at Norristown Area High School.

“I was totally impressed by our defensive effort,” Norristown coach Dana ‘Binky’ Johnson said. “This is our staple all year — a staple of the Norristown basketball program. We traditionally talked about offense wins games, defense wins championships. The second year of being head coach — they get it now. They understand the fact that defense saves you on the nights the offense is not working. Tonight was one of those nights where we didn’t shoot well from three, but we defended well and forced them into tough shots.”

In addition to stealing away extra possessions, the Norristown defense kept the Methacton stars from winning the game. Center Jeff Woodward made his mark with 27 points, but sharp-shooter David Duda was held to six points on just two made field goals.

“Duda is a great shooter, an opponent coach’s nightmare,” Johnson said. “He’s terrific. They’re a well-coached team. They have several good shooters. The best thing you can do is try to force them into low-percentage shots because any night they can go off. Erik (Timko), Dave Duda — they’re superb, outstanding shooters. Any night they can go off, but the best thing you can do is try to force them into low-percentage shots because they’re going to make shots — they’re great shooters.”

“Just deny him the ball and run him off the line,” Norristown’s Tyler Lyons said of the plan to stop Duda.

Mickeel Allen led the Eagles (9-1, 4-0 PAC Liberty) with 13 points, Marcus Sanford added 12 and Xavier Edwards nine.

Norristown entered the fourth quarter with a 10-point lead, 39-29, and quickly built it up. Edwards hit a pair of free throws after being on the receiving end of a hard foul and followed with a jumper to make it 43-29. Allen, Sanford and Lyons added baskets to make it 49-31 and put the game out of reach with less than five minutes remaining.

“The game of runs,” Johnson said of the Eagles push to start the fourth. “Hopefully you’re on that offensive end where you can actually execute a run. We did a great job of that. We’ve been focusing on executing down the stretch of games and they pulled it together tonight with some excellent execution, which has been our Achilles heel late in games, but they did a great job of it tonight.”

The teams traded runs to open the game.

Aaron Reddish got the scoring started with a three-pointer for Norristown, which opened the game with a 5-0 run. Methacton (6-5, 2-2) responded with nine straight — three three-pointers from Brett Eberly, Timko and Duda. The Eagles sandwiched 4-0 runs around a Methacton basket to tie the game at nine and lead, 13-11, after eight minutes.

The Warriors started hot in the second quarter, scoring the first six points to take a 17-13 lead. Norristown rattled off a 16-3 run to take a 29-20 advantage into halftime. Nizer Kinney hit a pair of threes for the Eagles and Lyons had four points in the quarter.

Norristown increased its lead to 10 points after three. The Eagles opened the quarter on a 6-0 run to make it a 22-3 stretch dating back to the second. Methacton scored seven straight on two Woodward layups and a Duda three to get within eight, 35-27. They wouldn’t get any closer, as the Eagles closed out the quarter ahead, 39-29.

Woodward’s 27 points led the Warriors and he recorded a double-double with 19 rebounds.