McAllister, Zeltt help North Penn roll past Souderton

FRANCONIA >> Whenever someone’s shooting becomes scorching, North Penn’s Ryan Zeltt knows the play is to keep feeding the fire.

“Whoever has the hot hand you want to give them the ball,” he said. “And we’ve had almost every one of our team has had the hot hand so you give it to them, you let them do their thing.”

Friday night, it was Zeltt and Teddy McAllister who were burning up the nets to help the Knights boys basketball team stay undefeated through four games.

Zeltt hit four 3-pointers – one in each quarter – for 17 points while McAllister went off for 13 points in the third and finished with a team-high 19 as North Penn rolled past host Souderton for an 80-61 SOL Colonial Division victory.

“I feel like we just been flowing,” McAllister said. “We are going to keep flowing. Everybody doing good, everybody happy scoring in good numbers, everybody getting buckets.”

Ryan Deininger added 14 points to make it three players in double figures for the Knights (4-0, 3-0 division), who took control of the contest with a 10-0 run in the second quarter capped by a Zeltt corner three that put North Penn up 31-17.

“I do like the corner shot,” Zeltt said. “But it’s pretty easy when you got some quick guys that we have, penetrating, I get left open cause sometimes they forget about me.”

A James Blair basket had Souderton down 12 at halftime with the Indians scoring the first three points of the third to make it 31-22 but a Zeltt putback pushed the margin to 11 and from there the Knights’ advantage never dipped back into single digits.

North Penn got its lead as large as 23 in the fourth before Souderton went on a 15-4 run to get back within 12 with 2:38 remaining. However, three straight baskets from Deininger put on the embers of any Big Red rally try.

“They have some good shooters, they’re going to make their shots so when they do you got to take the punch and throw another punch,” Zeltt said. “And I thought we did a pretty good job of that.”

The Indians’ Nathan Hemsing had his offense ignite in the second half, scoring 19 of his game-high 21 points after the break. Blair connected on four 3-pointers in totaling 20 points as Souderton (1-4, 1-2) dropped its second straight.

After Friday, North Penn is averaging 72.3 points per game with the 80 it put on the scoreboard against Souderton a season high, edging the 79 the Knights had in their win over Pennridge last Friday.

“Having people that can score is obviously an awesome thing,” Zeltt said. “And once we find our feet a little bit on the defensive end I think we’re going to be a tough team if we are all shooting like we had been. And I think it’s only up from here.”

Both teams have two SOL Colonial contests next week. North Penn hosts Central Bucks South Tuesday then is at Central Bucks East Thursday. Souderton, meanwhile, has a pair of home games, facing East Tuesday then West Thursday.

In the first quarter, a Blair 3-pointer put Souderton up 7-5 lead with an Aiden Maue basket extending the lead to four.

A Jared Zimmerman free throw had the Indians’ advantage at 12-9 at 2:18 before the Knights ended the quarter with seven straight points. Deininger drained a three to tie it while two Norman Gee free throws at 1:28 then a Mario Sgro bucket made it 16-12 North Penn.

The Knights extended the run in the second quarter to 10-0 after McAllister’s two off a drive and a Deininger foul shot at 7:25 to go up 19-12.

Souderton sliced its deficit to 21-17 after a Blair trey but North Penn proceeded to rip off another 10 straight points. Gee knocked down a three with a Zeltt jumper making it 26-17. After a Corey Meade basket, Zeltt hit from beyond the arc, putting the Knights up 14.

“I don’t think it was any crazy night or anything, you know, I was just kind of shooting it and I was getting the shots I usually take,” Zeltt said. “Teammates driving, getting me open.”

McAllister hit a trio of 3-pointers in the third, his first trey of the quarter giving North Penn a 39-25 lead. Back-to-back triples from the junior had the Knights up 18 at 51-33.

“I turned it up in the second half, hitting some threes, getting some layups,” McAllister said. “And that just sparked us from then. I got hot.”

Souderton whittled the margin to 53-40 on a Hemsing basket in the third’s final seconds but McAllister got to the hoop for a layup just before the buzzer, sending North Penn to the fourth up 15.

Zeltt’s fourth and final 3-pointer had the Knights leading 63-43 with his bucket inside giving North Penn its largest advantage of the night at 66-43.

North Penn 80, Souderton 61
North Penn 16 15 24 25 – 80
Souderton 12 7 21 21 – 61
North Penn: Teddy McAllister 6 4-4 19; Ryan Zeltt 7 0-0 18; Ryan Deininger 6 1-2 14; Norman Gee 3 2-2 9; Ahmaar Godhania 2 0-0 5; Corey Meade 2 1-2 5; Mario Sgro 2 0-0 4; Tre Simpson 2 0-1 4; Luke Cody 1 0-0 2; Totals 31 8-11 80.
Souderton: Nathan Hemsing 7 5-8 21; James Blair 8 0-0 20; Levi John 3 0-0 7; Aiden Maue 3 0-0 7; Nolan Watkins 1 0-1 3; Chanse Salone 1 0-0 2; Jared Zimmerman 0 1-2 1; Totals 23 6-11 61
3-pointers: NP-Zeltt 4, McAllister 3, Deininger, Gee, Godhania; S-Blair 4, Hemsing 2, John, Maue, Watkins.