Norristown holds off Bensalem in District 1-6A quarterfinals

BENSALEM >> Norristown never trailed against Bensalem, but didn’t secure a win until the final seconds. 

Senior Righteous Mitchell hit a pair of free throws with 5.6 seconds left to give the Eagles a two-possession lead. When Bensalem’s inconsequential three-point attempt at the buzzer bounced off the rim, Norristown celebrated its 50-46 District 1-6A quarterfinal win at Bensalem High School.

The win sends No. 12 Norristown to the Final 4 and a fourth matchup with No. 1 Methacton, on the road Tuesday at 7 p.m.

“It’s kind of a bizarre, ironic situation for me,” Norristown coach Binky Johnson, in his fourth season, said, “because a majority of these guys I coached in developmental travel basketball. I told people – 2022 is our year. We called it the 2022 project. For it to come to fruition – everyone said you have to be crazy because you don’t have any talent on there. I said, ‘I know, but our 07-08 team we weren’t overly talented, but everyone likes each other.’ I’ll take chemistry over a five-star player. We don’t have any stars on this team, but we have a whole bunch of guys who like each other and play for each other. That’s the definition of a team.”

“It means a lot,” Norristown senior Zaki Gomez said. “Since the coaches came back, this is the first time going (to the district semifinals). This is everything to them, everything to us. (Missing last season due to COVID) adds more fuel to the fire. We went out there, we did our thing.”

Mitchell’s game-sealing free throws came after a chaotic sequence. 

Bensalem’s Jeremy Rodriguez scored through contact to get the fourth-seeded Owls within three, 48-45, with 18.1 seconds remaining. He missed the free throw, but an Eagles lane violation gave him another chance. He sank the shot to make it 48-46. 

Bensalem stole the ensuing inbounds pass, but went to the floor with the ball and were whistled for a travel. 

Norristown inbounded back toward their own basket and senior DJ Johnson called timeout when he got trapped in the corner. 

The next inbound pass finally went to Mitchell. While the Eagles were 8-for-16 from the free-throw line up to that point in the fourth quarter – and 9-for-18 in the game – Mitchell calmly put both shots up and in to keep the Eagles District 1 title hopes alive.

Righteous Mitchell knocks down the game-sealing free throw with 5.6 seconds left. Puts Norristown ahead by 4. pic.twitter.com/MBQ2qPwwal

— Ed Morlock (@emor09) February 26, 2022

“It was loud,” Mitchell said. “I just knocked them down. I felt good after that… I was just trying to stay focused and knock them down, take my time.”

“Righteous is a gamer,” Binky Johnson said. “We know it. If Righteous could play games every day – he would be somewhere playing basketball. We had all the confidence in the world in him. He’s one of our best free throw shooters.”

Mitchell made an acrobatic layup at the third quarter buzzer to send the Eagles to the fourth with a 33-31 lead. 

After the teams traded free throws early in the fourth, DJ Johnson grabbed a steal and was fouled going end-to-end. He made both to make it a 36-32 Norristown lead before Bensalem’s Allen Myers split a pair of free throws and Tra Edwards knocked down a three to tie the game with under six minutes to go. 

DJ Johnson put the Eagles ahead for good with a three-pointer from the right wing – his only three-point attempt of the night – 39-36 with 4:40 remaining.

“My teammates say I’m one of the best three-point shooters on the team in practice,” DJ Johnson, who credited Gomez for some pre-game shooting tips, said. “In practice I’m knocking them down. They say, ‘you don’t shoot them in games, you shoot a couple in games, but you’re really a shooter.’ I was just open, really. Johnny (Dinolfi) drew two (defenders). They left me open and I just pulled it – the coaches are going to get mad at me if I don’t. I pulled it.”

Two possessions later senior John Dinolfi pumped-faked around a defender at the three-point line before stepping in for a mid-range jumper and five-point Norristown lead. After the teams traded turnovers, DJ Johnson made a layup for a 7-0 run and 43-36 advantage with 2:40 on the clock.

Rodriguez scored seven straight points while Norristown struggled from the free throw line to get within 44-43 with 1:05 to play. 

DJ Johnson doubled the lead to 45-43 when he split a pair of foul shots before the Eagles got the defensive stop they needed. Dinolfi, who struggled against Myers in the third quarter when the latter scored eight of his 10 points, contested a short jumper from the Bensalem center. The shot bounced off the rim and Mitchell grabbed the rebound, got fouled and hit both free throws for a 47-43 advantage.

“Coach talked to me and just told me a different way to guard (Myers),” Dinolfi, who picked up his third foul late in the third quarter and went to the bench with a nine-point lead before returning to a 36-36 tie in the fourth, said. “I was trying to get around him too much. He just told me to play straight up. (Myers) is a good player. I just had to lock in on defense, really.”

After Mitchell’s free throws, Dinolfi tied up Myers on a rebound at the other end of the floor for a jumpball, which favored the Eagles. Myron Kirlew split free throws to make it 48-43 before Rodriguez’s three-point play led to the last-second chaos. 

Norristown jumped out to a fast start, building an 11-3 lead just 3:08 into the game. Dinolfi had four early points while Gomez and Mitchell each converted layups. Kirlew hit a three-pointer to make it 11-3 and added another before the end of the quarter, which Norristown won 14-7. 

“You can’t play behind when you’re at this stage of basketball in District 1,” Binky Johnson said. “You can’t. You’re not going to come back from eight, 10-point deficits. You’re not going to make the runs all the time. Against a very good Bensalem team, in their house, you’re not. They’re experienced. They’ve been here last year. They’re ready. We had a focus on getting that early lead and taking our shots early. Even if we didn’t make them, we needed to take them and we knocked them down. Kirlew hit a huge three.”

The Eagles built their largest lead of the game, 22-11, in the second quarter, but Bensalem responded with a 5-0 run. Greg Mobley gave Norristown the momentum going into halftime with a two-hand putback jam, stopping the Owls run and making it a 24-16 game at the break.

Myers made four short baskets in the third to help Bensalem erase its deficit and tie the game at 31, the first tie since 2-2, late in the frame. Mitchell’s late-second layup sent the Eagles to the fourth with the two-point lead.

DJ Johnson led a balanced Norristown offense with 11 points while Gomez, Mitchell and Dinolfi each scored nine. 

“We don’t have one certain player,” Dinolfi, who scored 24 points in a 59-40 win over Bensalem on Jan. 31, said. “We all can get hot – all seven, eight of us. We don’t rely on just one person.”

Rodriguez led Bensalem with a game-high 18 points, 10 of which came in the fourth. Myers added 10 points and 11 rebounds while Edwards scored nine points.

Norristown 50, Bensalem 46

Norristown 14 10 9 17 – 50

Bensalem 7 9 15 15 – 46

N: Gomez 4 1-2 9, Johnson 3 4-8 11, Mitchell 2 5-6 9, Kirlew 2 1-2 7, Dinolfi 4 0-0 9, Mobley 1 0-0 2, Williams 1 0-0 3, Stinson 0 0-0 0. Total 17 11-20 50.

B: Rodriguez 6 5-5 18, Edwards 3 1-2 9, Myers 4 2-4 10, Gonzalez 0 1-2 1, Sanders 2 2-2 6, Morris 1 0-0 2, Delange 0 0-0 0. Total 16 11-17 46.

3-point goals: N: Kirlew 2, Dinolfi, Williams, Johnson. B: Edwards 2, Rodriguez.