Meade scores 24, North Penn tops Pennridge for 9th straight win

TOWAMENCIN >> In the first half, Corey Meade provided a boost for the North Penn boys basketball team, coming off the bench to score nine points.

In the fourth quarter, the junior provided the Knights with clutch baskets to continue the Knights’ winning streak Tuesday night.

Meade collected 13 of his team-high 24 points in the final frame, his three-point play with 3:48 remaining breaking a 53-53 tie with visiting Pennridge and put North Penn up for good as the Knights topped the Rams 68-61 in the SOL Colonial Division contest to earn a ninth straight victory.

“The whole season I was playing iffy not (with) confidence and coaches told me just play today,” Mead said. “It was a big game for me that I came out and showed ‘em what I can do. Be the spark plug off the bench when our team needs it.”

A Meade basket to open the second quarter gave the Knights a 26-15 lead but Pennridge whittle the margin to four before Meade converted on a drive to make it 34-28 at halftime. The Rams surged ahead in the third – Tommy Cramer’s jumper capping a 14-4 run that had Pennridge up 47-42.

“I think our kids are pretty confident,” Rams coach Dean Behrens said. “They play hard, they play well together and I think we really moved the ball offensively extremely well and got really a lot of great looks. And then we rebounded better in the beginning of that third quarter and we got some stops.”

North Penn (14-4, 9-3 division), however, scored the third quarter’s last six points – Norman Gee’s steal and layup just before the buzzer had the Knights ahead 48-47.

Two Meade free throws and a Lee Hammond 3-pointer extended North Penn’s advantage to six but consecutive triples from Matt Campione and Gannon Perlini had Pennridge (12-6, 7-5) even at 53.

Meade drew a foul as his shot in the lane dropped in, completing the three-point play to make it 56-53. Meade then finished inside off a feed from Mario Sgro to put the Knights up five.

“Once I’m just feeling myself I just keep going ‘til I don’t miss no more,” Meade said.

A Campione trey had the Rams within 58-56 but Meade scored on a drive down the lane while a basket from Ryan Deininger increased the North Penn lead to 62-56.

The Knights missed the front end of a 1-and-1 only for Meade to grab the rebound then make both at the line with 1:20 left to put the home side up eight.

“It’s almost a coming-out party for him tonight,” said North Penn coach John Conrad of Meade. I thought he played exceptional on both ends of the floor. And we’ve seen him do it. He’s lacked consistency throughout the year but the last couple games he’s playing well again on both ends.”

Pennridge could only get as close as six in the game’s late moments as its fifth-game win streak came to end with the Rams’ second loss to the Knights this season, having lost 79-66 Dec. 9 at Pennridge.

An overtime loss to Central Bucks West Dec 20 had the Rams at 3-4 but coming into Tuesday’s contest, they had won nine of their last 10.

“North Penn’s a very good team, they’ve won nine in a row for a reason so we’re not down on ourselves, we’re not down on the guys,” Behrens said. “We just need to regroup tomorrow, get back to practice, focus, have a good practice, hit the weight room right afterwards and start focusing on Souderton.”

Campione scored 14 of his team-best 24 points in the first half while Xavier Peters added 12 points for the Rams, who visit Souderton 7 p.m. Friday.

Deininger finished with 15 points with Ryan Zeltt chipping in 10 points for North Penn, who host Central Bucks West 7 p.m. Friday. Meade was 10-for-11 on free throws, going a perfect 7-for-7 in the fourth.

“We’ve been able to find different guys on different nights whether it be scoring, rebounding, defense, all of our guys have been able to contribute,” Conrad said. “And I think that’s a tribute to our captains too because they’ve done a nice job with our team chemistry.”

North Penn opened the season 4-0 but proceeded to drop four of its next five. But the Knights have not lost since falling at home to Pennsbury 66-61 Jan.3, the string of nine wins in a row putting North Penn at seventh in the District 1-6A rankings. Pennridge sits in 17th.

“We want to win and our goal is to make it to districts and then states,” North Penn junior Norman Gee said. “So every game we lace up, we get hype in the locker room and we’re like we’re going to beat this team, we’re going to beat this team, we’re going to play as a team and we go out and then we just do our business.”

The Knights jumped out to a 10-3 lead after a Teddy McAllister basket before Pennridge ripped off the next six points. A Zeltt three and Sgro bucket gave North Penn a 15-9 lead.

Baskets from Campion and Cramer had the Rams down 15-13 but the Knights responded with a 9-0 run, Meade collecting the last four points to put North Penn up 11. A Campione jumper made it 24-15 at the end of the quarter.

“I thought we shared the ball well, I thought we were finding guys on time and on target and playing with a rhythm,” Conrad said. “Third quarter I didn’t think we had any rhythm at all and I felt we were able to get it back because we were able to get some stops defensively.”

A Gee 3-pointer had North Penn leading 32-22 but layups from Cramer and Campione off steals then two Campione free throws had the Rams within 32-28 with 38.9 seconds left in the half. Meade scored off a drive for a six-point lead at the break for the Knights.

Deininger’s basket made it 36-28 but five straight from Jake Buesing put the Rams down 36-33. After two from Zeltt gave North Penn a five-point edge only for Pennridge to post the next eight.

Caden Fisher scored in transition to give the Rams their first lead at 39-38 while Campione added two more after rebounding his missed 3-pointer. Pennridge pushed its advantage to 45-40 on a Cramer basket then went up five again at 47-42 following a Cramer jumper.

Meade hit two free throws with 2:07 in the third then found Zeltt for a basket in the quarter’s final minute. Meade knocked the ball free with Gee getting to it and racing down the court for a layup and a 48-47 North Penn lead entering the fourth.

North Penn 68, Pennridge 61

Pennridge 15 13 19 14 – 61

North Penn 24 10 14 20 – 68

Pennridge: Matt Campione 9 3-4 24; Xavier Peters 6 0-0 12; Jake Buesing 3 2-2 9; Tommy Cramer 4 -0 8; Gannon Perlini 2 0-0 6; Caden Fisher 1 0-0 2; Totals 25 5-6 61.

North Penn: Corey Meade 7 10-11 24; Ryan Deininger 7 1-2 15; Ryan Zeltt 4 0-0 10; Mario Sgro 3 1-3 7; Norman Gee 2 0-1 5; Teddy McAllister 2 0-0 4; Lee Hammond 1 0-0 3; Totals 26 12-17 68.

3-pointers: P-Campione 3, Perlini 2, Buesing; NP-Zeltt 2, Gee, Hammond.