Pennridge wins first Suburban One League Challenge championship

NORTHAMPTON >> Pennridge won the Suburban One League Challenge championship for the first time in school history, 52-50, over Cheltenham Monday night at Council Rock High School South.

“We’ve never won the Suburban One challenge,” Pennridge coach Dean Behrens said. “I know it hasn’t been that long, but we’ve had five cracks at it. Last year we finally broke through and we got to the championship game and lost to Abington. Tonight we were able to play really good basketball. I thought second half we played outstanding.”

“It feels really good,” junior guard Colin Post added. “We were here last year and to be here again and win it, it’s pretty cool to be the first Pennridge team to do it.”

The Rams used their defense to overcome an eight-point halftime deficit that ballooned to 12 early in the third quarter. They forced 10 Cheltenham turnovers in the second half after forcing just one in the first and limited the Panthers to 17 second-half points.

“I was a little upset with the boys,” Behrens said. “I don’t think we got back on defense well at all. I think they had 14 or 16 points in transition. I said, ‘Fellas we have to sprint back.’ Too many guys were jogging back like a (defensive) back. We needed to sprint back. I thought that was the one adjustment we made.”

“We had to get two guys back,” Rams guard Christian Guldin said. “We’re not really going to get offensive rebounds on a team like that so the coaches emphasized getting two guys back to stop their transition and we would get reinforcements later.”

“We haven’t played a team like this that really runs that fast,” Post added. “When they get out in transition like that, we have to get back.”

Pennridge used an 11-0 run, capped by a Luke Yoder three, to take a 42-41 lead late in the third quarter. Brandon Scott made a layup at the buzzer to send Cheltenham to the fourth with a 43-42 advantage.

Guldin scored all 10 of the Rams points in the fourth quarter. He hit back-to-back floaters to put Pennridge ahead, 48-45, late in the game and went 4-for-4 from the free-throw line to close out the win.

While Guldin was scoring, the Pennridge defense was keeping the Panthers off the board. Cheltenham didn’t make a fourth-quarter field goal until the final minute of the game, cutting its deficit to 48-47. The SOL American champs only made two field goals in the fourth – the second being an inconsequential three-pointer at the buzzer.

“We went stagnant,” Cheltenham coach Patrick Fleury said. “We went a little flat. I think our energy as a whole – I think I just have to do a better job of putting them in position. That one’s on me. A lot of fast-breaks we usually convert we didn’t convert tonight and then free throws … I think we were around 60 percent (8-for-14). Other than that, tip your hat to them. They’re a good team. Definitely want to go back and watch it and learn from it. Easy things we could have converted that we didn’t and they ended up making more plays than we did down the stretch.”

Guldin led Pennridge was a game-high 22 points. Yoder and Trent Fisher each added nine points.

Scott led a balanced Cheltenham attack with 11 points. Sam Emfinger, Jaelen McGlone and Rasheem Dearry each added nine.

Cheltenham controlled the game in the first half. After falling behind 2-0, Emfinger hit a three-pointer on the Panthers first possession and they never trailed again until 42-41 late in the third quarter. They scored 10 straight to go ahead 10-2 and led, 14-12, after the first quarter.

Their lead grew to 10, 26-16 in the second quarter. The SOL Continental champs battled back to within five, 30-25, but Cheltenham’s Salem Payne hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to send the Panthers into the locker room with an eight-point lead.

“The guys have confidence that they can come back,” Behrens said. “We don’t give up. We play hard. We play to win. I’m not worried about the way we’re going to handle things because I think we handle things extremely well.”

Both schools will have first-round byes in the District 1-6A playoffs. No. 8 Pennridge will open up Tuesday Feb. 18 against the CB West/North Penn winner while No. 3 Cheltenham faces either Souderton or Upper Darby.