Gee helps North Penn pull away in 4th, beat Pennridge in SOL Colonial opener

EAST ROCKHILL >> Norman Gee got hot from long range and the North Penn junior guard was determined not to cool off.

“Usually when I make a three I want to keep my heat,” Gee said. “So just keep shooting.”

Gee connected on a quartet of 3-pointers in the second quarter – three coming as the visiting Knights erased a five-point Pennridge advantage with 13-6 run to take a 37-35 lead into halftime of the One League Colonial Division matchup.

“Honestly, a lot of them were off of screens but I mean some of them I just didn’t hesitate. Even if they gave me that spot I knew I was heated so I just shot it and it went in.”

North Penn held off the Rams in the second half despite an offensive outburst from Matt Campione and in the fourth Gee helped the Knights pull away with a 14-4 finishing burst to claim a 79-66 victory Friday night.

“Before this game I told all my teammates I’m locked in, everybody should be locked in,” Gee said. “I got ‘em all straight and we got the dub today so I’m happy about that.”

Gee hit five 3-pointers in finishing with 24 points and as North Penn (2-0, 1-0 division) had three players scored 20 or more points in the Colonial opener for both sides. Senior Ryan Deininger had 21 points while junior Teddy McAllister added 20 points.

“I think the first half we weren’t really getting up the floor, running fast breaks,” Deininger said. “That was a big difference. We had like one fast-break layup in the first half and everything changed in the second so that’s what let us keep up with our threes open.”

Campione knocked down six 3-pointers in erupting for a game-high 32 points, including 13 in the third quarter and 21 in the second half. Xavier Peters chipped in 14 points for the Rams (2-2, 0-1).

“I just don’t know if maybe we expected their guards to shoot so well from three,” Pennridge coach Dean Behrens said. “And you got to give up something and obviously Gee’s quickness bothered us and obviously him hitting threes – I mean he played probably the best game that I’ve seen him play. He played great. I was very impressed. He gave us everything we could handle.”

McAllister gave North Penn a 61-52 lead on a drive early in the fourth but Campione answered with consecutive 3-pointers to pull the Rams to within 61-58.

“He’d been struggling a little bit offensively in the beginning (of the season),” said Behrens of Campione. “He was still scoring 16 and 12, he’s still in double figures but tonight I think he really, from the perimeter, really felt it and he shot extremely well.”

Both teams next play 7 p.m. Tuesday in division games — North Penn visiting Central Bucks West while Pennridge hosts Souderton.

A Gannon Perlini basket had Pennridge down two at 63-61 but McAllister converted on a drive to push NP’s lead to four. After a Tommy Cramer free throw at 4:18 made it 65-62 Gee responded with a 3-pointer.

“It’s been a part of my game,” said Gee of shooting from three. “I just get heated at moments and know to keep shooting so it won’t go away.”

Campione got the Rams within 68-64 but a Gee basket then Ryan Zeltt making both ends of a 1-and-1 at 1:57 had the Knights up 72-64. A Deininger bucket made it 74-64 with Deininger adding a foul shot at 1:24 for an 11-point edge.

In the first quarter, a Zeltt 3-pointer from the corner gave the Knights a 15-6 lead but the Rams got back into the contest with an 8-2 run – Jake Buesing scoring on a drive to have the Rams down 17-15 after eight minutes.

A Campione 3-pointer gave Pennridge its first lead of the night at 19-18 and the advantage proceeded to change seven more times before intermission.

“Again, just got to keep playing,” Deininger said. “They were hitting a bunch of shots and so were we. Like we ended up with, what 80 points? That’s ridiculous. So got to keep playing.”

After Caden Fisher hit both ends of a 1-and-1 at 5:32 for a 24-23 Rams advantage Peters drained a trey to put the hosts up four. Two Campione free throws at 4:50 had Pennridge’s lead at 29-24.

“We got ourselves down 15-6, had to call time out but I like the way the boys responded,” Behrens said. “And I think at one point we were up four or five in that second quarter but we couldn’t get stops. Couldn’t get stops tonight.”

Gee’s third 3-pointer of the quarter had the Knights within 33-32 while a McAllister basket off a drive had NP up a point. Two from Campione on a drive gave the Rams back the lead but Gee knocked down a three and the Knights held the 27-25 at the break.

A Gee 3-point play at 4:51 in third had North Penn’s lead at 49-42 with the Knights pushing the margin to nine at 55-46 after a Deininger jumper.

Campione connected on a three then after a Deininger free throw the Pennridge senior hit another from beyond the arc to make it 56-52. Deininger, however, drained a three for a seven-point NP lead at the start of the fourth.

North Penn 79, Pennridge 66
North Penn 17 20 22 20 – 79
Pennridge 14 21 17 14 – 66
North Penn: Norman Gee 8 3-3 24; Ryan Deininger 9 2-5 21; Teddy McAllister 8 3-4 20; Mario Sgro 2 3-4 7; Ryan Zeltt 1 2-2 5; Luke Cody 0 1-2 1; Ahmarr Godhania 0 1-2 1; Totals 28 14-21 79.
Pennridge: Matt Campione 11 4-4 32; Xavier Peters 5 3-7 14; Tommy Cramer 3 3-6 9; Caden Fisher 0 4-4 4; Ryan Hass 1 0-0 3; Jake Buesing 1 0-0 2; Gannon Perlini 1 0-0 2; Totals 28 15-23 66.
3-pointers: Gee 5, Deininger, McAllister, Zeltt; P-Campione 6, Hass, Peters.