Post, Pennridge cruise past North Penn for 16th straight victory

TOWAMENCIN >> Dean Behrens knows the Pennridge boys basketball team does not need much in the way of motivation.

“I think my guys, I really believe this, if we’re keeping score, we’re going to compete,” the Rams coach said.

But every little bit of incentive helps. And while Pennridge came to North Penn Thursday night having already sewn up the outright Suburban One League Continental Conference title, the Rams still had a chance to bump up their seeding in the District 1-6A tournament.

“Our drive is we want that fourth seed in districts,” the Rams’ Jon Post said. “Right now it’s us and Norristown, points could go one way or the other way so we’re coming out here like we need to win if want that fourth seed and we want to be at home throughout (the playoffs) until (the semifinals at) Temple.”

The host Knights, meanwhile, had a considerable need for a win sitting in the 24th and final spot in the 6A playoff field. And at the end of the opening eight minutes, it looked like on its Senior Night North Penn might have a chance to do that, knocking down four 3-pointers — three by Chris Caputo — to hold a 14-13 lead.

But then the second quarter began and Pennridge proceeded to run off 17 straight points and from there never looked back, cruising to its 16th-straight victory by topping the Knights 76-55.

“They’re just too big and too strong for us,” North Penn coach John Conrad said. “We shot it well early but what typically happens is we wore down and we come up short on a couple of threes. And they’re good.”

North Penn had few answers for Post in the post, the senior forward scoring 16 points in the first half — 10 in the first quarter — and finished with a game-high 24 points as the Rams (20-2, 11-1 conference) reached the 20-win mark for the first time since going 21-6 in 2015-2016.

“I came out through warmups, I was feeling myself a little bit,” Post said. “Got two quick fouls on (Matt) Swanson, he was out and I felt OK, their JV big man ended up coming in. I said I got to take advantage of that. Just kept attacking and my shots were falling.”

Jack Gillespie hit four 3-pointers in the second quarter as he added 14 points while Trent Fisher scored 11 points for Pennridge, which led 40-23 at halftime and pushed its advantage to as large as 28 in the fourth.

“The Reading win I think really got our kids’ confidence up,” said Behrens of the Rams’ 61-59 overtime win last Saturday. “I think the eight guys we’ve been running out there, the eight-man rotation’s working well. And those guys on Senior Night (an 89-60 win over Central Bucks East Tuesday),  Nick Dunn and Pat (Gillespie) really got their confidence back.

“I think Nick’s getting healthy and I think he’s becoming a defensive problem for teams. And his confidence is starting to go through the roof. And when you got eight guys playing well, that’s really beneficial.”

Caputo connected on five 3-pointers in scoring a team-high 20 points — 10 in the first quarter — while Kolby Barrow recorded nine of his 12 points in the fourth as the Knights (9-13, 4-8), lost their fourth straight.

“We had a bunch of close games at the end, we just didn’t close out,” Caputo said. “I mean, if we win those games, who knows what could of happened this year.”

Since a four-game win streak put it at 8-3, North Penn has lost 10 of its last 11, the lone win during that span a 89-85 double-overtime victory over CB East Jan. 25. Yet despite the late-season slide, the Knights may reach districts for a seventh consecutive season, as they still hold the 24th spot in 6A with a 7.607 power ranking to No. 25 Ridley’s 7.418.

“We’ll take a couple days off and see what happens,” Conrad said. “If we’re fortunate enough to play next Friday, we’ll spend a week getting ready.”

Pennridge, which moved into fourth in 6A over Norristown with the win — its 12.342 power ranking edging the Eagles’ 12.310 — is back in action noon Saturday facing Cheltenham in the Suburban One League tournament semifinals at Council Rock South. Winner faces either Abington or Pennsbury — who play 4:30 p.m. Saturday at South — in the league final Monday at Bensalem.

“For us, this is awesome,” Behrens said. “It’s a honor to go and play in the Suburban One Challenge and represent the league and do the best we can against Cheltenham. And I’m sure Cheltenham feels the same way.”

Jack Gillespie opened the second quarter’s scoring with a 3-pointer while baskets from Post and Fisher extended the Rams’ lead to 21-15.

North Penn called time out after Yoder found Post down low for an eight-point advantage, but it did little to slow down the Rams. A Jack Gillespie triple made it 26-15 and after Yoder drove for two, Jack Gillespie drained another trey for a 31-15 lead.

“I think it starts on the defensive side,” Post said. “That second quarter, they weren’t hitting those threes that they hitting so much, we were getting out on shots. And we ran transition really well. And they really couldn’t combat it.”

A Swanson jumper ended the 17-0 run only for Jack Gillespie to hit his fourth three of the quarter.

A Yoder basket gave the Rams their biggest first-half lead at 36-18. North Penn cut the margin to 15 twice but a Yoder steal and breakaway dunk in the final seconds had Pennridge ahead 40-23 at the break.

“We had open shots, we played well, we just couldn’t knock them down and they had a run,” Caputo said. “We just couldn’t respond after they made that huge run on us.”

The Knights got within 13 early in the third after an A.J. Mitchell 3-pointer made it 44-31 only for the Rams to responded with a 9-0 run — Post finding a cutting Yoder for a layup and a 53-31 lead.

In the fourth, Pennridge pushed the margin to 28 twice, the last time at 66-28 after a Luke Yoder basket.

Back-to-back 3-pointers from Mike Chaffee and Caputo gave North Penn up 10-4 in the first quarter. After a Post free throw at 5:58, Rob Carangi’s putback increased the NP lead to 12-5.

Six straight points from the Rams — the last four by Post — tied the game at 12. The Knights regained the lead on a Caputo three before a Post bucket made it 15-14 heading to the second quarter.