Towsen on point as Souderton shoots past visiting Pennridge

FRANCONIA >> The guy in the red-and-white suit who traverses around dropping off gifts played his role to perfection.

Forget Kris Kringle, Chris Towsen has been the provider of much joy for the Souderton boys basketball team and its fans this winter. The senior, who transitioned to full-time point guard this season, has been slinging passes and racking up assists at an astonishing rate.

Thursday night, Towsen managed to drop off 10 more presents for his teammates as Souderton blitzed visiting Pennridge 64-42.

“I think naturally I play freely, maybe a little too much but the coaches have really helped with that, telling me when to run plays or slow down,” Towsen said. “We have a great culture, we’re like family and every player is like a brother to the rest of us. It helps on the court, it’s just fun.”

Listed at 5-foot-10, Towsen is an enigma, someone who can take just six shots in a game and still have a hand in 31 of his team’s points. He’s the shortest player in Souderton’s starting lineup and also the one pinning an opponent’s shot off the backboard.

“I think I bring a lot of energy, a lot of movement and sneaky plays, but I definitely loved that pin,” Towsen said. “That was pretty hype.”

First year Souderton (5-2, 2-2 SOL Colonial) coach Okoteh Sackitey lauded Towsen’s play this season and said having the senior at the point has made his transition into the program that much easier. Sackitey, who has a long resume coaching and training players, added that it’s almost routine for Towsen to go out and facilitate a game to that level.

“I feel like he must be averaging close to 10 assists a game, that’s just like a normal thing for him,” Sackitey said. “We’re used to it and what’s so crazy is that we’re used to it because it’s such a special thing. We’re fortunate to have a point guard like him.”

Last year, Towsen was primarily a shooting guard and a secondary ball-handler. This year, he’s the maestro, the initiator, the re-initiator and the “OK, that didn’t work either, let’s try something else” coordinator all in one.

He also runs a lot.

Some point guards are glued to the ball until the very last second until they have to give it up. Towsen may give up the ball, cut through the lane, go get it back and repeat two, three or more times on a possession. The senior said he likes to bring his energy on the defensive end, but his constant movement on offense also adds up, keeping his teammates involved, tiring out the guys guarding him and creating more open shots.

“It’s thanks to our new coach allowing me to run plays, pass the ball and play freely,” Towsen said. “I pride myself on playing both ends of the court and the whole game. Timeouts and the end of quarters help, I’m always using that time to get rest.”

Towsen and his teammates didn’t get off to a great start on Thursday and in fact, it was his opposite number in Pennridge (1-5, 0-4 SOL Colonial) freshman point guard Xavier Peters who stole the show with seven points and two assists in the first quarter. The visiting Rams, who were down starters Justin McCormick, Justin Nichols and Jude D’Agostino, led 14-10 after eight minutes.

Even when Souderton made its first run of the second quarter, the Rams responded with a punch-back run of their own to get within a point and were only down 31-23 at the half. From there, Souderton’s barrage of outside shooters got hot in the third and Pennridge couldn’t keep pace, dropping its fifth straight overall and fourth in SOL play.

“We didn’t do a good enough job rebounding the basketball, didn’t do a good enough job communicating, our rotations were a little slow and because some of these guys are limited in their varsity experience, that stuff happens,” Rams coach Dean Behrens said. “We can’t keep saying we’re young, if we’re playing varsity, we have to compete.”

Tyler Johnson led Pennridge with 10 while Peters and Matt Campione each tallied nine for the Rams. Pennridge will spend its break playing in Boyertown’s holiday tournament and while Behrens did like some things his team did on Thursday, he added regardless of who is available next week, it’s time to start making some strides.

“One thing you can ask for is an opportunity, well, these guys are getting an opportunity on varsity and on JV,” Behrens said. “Now you’re asking, ‘are they making the most of it?’ Some are and some aren’t right now, so it’s up to us to re-evaluate that.”

Towsen shook off his slow first quarter, which featured just one assist, by setting all four baskets of Souderton’s 10-0 run that put the hosts in front the rest of the way. He chalked up five total helpers in the frame, the last coming on Paul Vince’s 3-pointer with 22 seconds left in the half to give Souderton a three-possession lead at the break.

He scored all five of his points for the game in the third quarter, which saw Souderton hit four 3-pointers and outscore the Rams 19-8.

For a point guard to have assists, their teammates have to make shots and that was certainly not a problem on Thursday. Souderton knocked down 11 treys as a team while big man Aleks Smith continued his strong play this season with a game-high 17 points on 5-of-8 shooting and 7-of-8 free throws.

Jay Bonnett had 13, Vince posted 11 and James Blair came off the bench with nine second half points.

“Aleks is our key player in the post, he can really finish and the rest of our team are a bunch of shooters,” Towsen said. “I know if I pass it out to them for an open three, they’ll hit it.”

Towsen assisted on six 3-pointers, including perhaps his best pass of the night. Early in fourth quarter, the senior was being doubled way out on the right wing and winged a cross-court pass to the left corner, where Levi John buried the 3-point look to give his team a 22-point lead.

“It’s almost like I have an extension of myself,” Sackitey said. “He makes good decisions with the ball, it’s huge. He plays under control, he jump-stops really well, always has his eyes up and he’s a gifted passer, he sees the passing lanes before they open up and just makes good decisions.”

One of Towsen’s more audacious passes got someone in the Souderton student section to yell out “is that Steve Nash out there?” and Towsen couldn’t help but laugh when it was brought up postgame. He, as much as anyone, has thrived with the return of people in the stands both home and away this season and on Thursday, frequently pointed to the student section after one of his passes led to a made shot.

He’s already seeing opponents start to play him a little differently, so Towsen said the next step is for he and his teammates to adapt as they finish December and jump back into league play in January.

“It always comes down to trusting my teammates, honestly,” Towsen said. “I know what they’re going to do, I know where they’re going to be at the perfect time and I can just through with whatever I’m going to do. I trust my players.”

Souderton 64, Pennridge 42
Souderton 10 21 19 14 – 64
Pennridge 14 9 8 11 – 42
Souderton: Jay Bonnet 4 2-4 13, Chris Towsen 2 0-0 5, Aleks Smith 5 7-8 17, Paul Vince 4 0-0 11, Levi John 3 0-0 7, Devans Bhardari 1 0-0 2, James Blair 3 0-0 9. Totals: 22 9-12 64.
Pennridge: Matt Campione 1 6-8 9, Xavier Peters 3 1-2 9, Tommy Cramer 1 0-0 2, Tyler Johnson 5 0-0 10, Ryan Haas 1 0-0 2, Gannon Perlini 3 0-0 6, Caden Fisher 2 0-0 4. Totals: 16 7-10 42.
3-pointers: S – Bonney 3, Vince 3, Blair 3, Towsen, John; P – Peters 2, Campione.