TOWAMENCIN – Chanse Salone sparked the Souderton boys basketball team to a fast start Tuesday night, the sophomore guard scoring eight points as the Indians jumped out to a 10-2 lead over North Penn.
The Knights, however, worked their way back, a Norman Gee buzzer-beating three pulling the hosts to within 18-14 at the end of the first quarter.
Another eight-point Souderton advantage was whittle down to three after Ahmaar Godhania’s bucket cut the margin at 23-20. But Bill Sackor pushed Big Red’s lead up to seven at the break and when Souderton put together another strong opening to a half, it made sure the momentum remained in its favor.
“It was super big,” Salone said. “We always try and win all four quarters even though it might not happen, but we always try and win all the quarters so we can get a good start on the next one.”
The Indians began the third quarter with a 14-2 run and locked down the Knights in the second half. Souderton grew its lead to as large as 30 in the fourth as it claimed a 61-36 SOL Colonial Division win.
“We knew we played a good half at first but we wanted to come even better, win all the four quarters,” Salone said. “We didn’t want them getting any runs.”
Salone paced the Indians with 17 points while Sackor scored 16 points and Nolan Watkins added 11 points as the Indians (4-2, 2-1 division) stopped a three-game losing streak to the Knights.
The win was Souderton’s second straight after edging Upper Merion 66-65 in a non-league matchup last Saturday.
“Whether it’s me or someone else hitting the shots, it doesn’t matter to me as long as we get a good start,” Salone said. “My teammates just found me and I was able to hit it.”
Godhania scored 10 of his 17 points in the first half to lead the Knights (3-3, 2-1), who recorded just 16 points after halftime in losing their second straight.
“I don’t know that we answered the bell from a coaching standpoint, from an effort standpoint, from an execution standpoint,” North Penn coach John Conrad said. “They out-coached us, they out-worked us and out-efforted us every step on the way.”
Both teams have SOL Colonial road games 7 p.m. Friday, Souderton is at Central Bucks East while North Penn visits Central Bucks South.
“We didn’t have any rhythm,” Conrad said. “We didn’t have anybody really want the basketball in the high post area, just disappointing from top to bottom and it starts with me so we’ll come back tomorrow and see, try and get better.”
Two Clinton Kikonjo free throws and a Watkins basket off a drive had Souderton up 31-20 in the third. Godhania made two from the foul line at 6:27 but Trey Bui connected on a 3-pointer while Salone followed with another triple, putting the Big Red lead at 37-22.
“Just patience,” Salone said. “We knew they were going to try and rush us a lot. We just wanted to be patient with the ball, do our sets.”
The Indians made it 10 straight points after transition buckets from Salone and Watkins before a Gee 3-pointer had North Penn down 41-25. Sackor, however, collected the next four points.
“It started yesterday in practice, we had no energy, we didn’t compete,” Conrad said. “They didn’t do anything we weren’t really for, it’s just we didn’t execute and we didn’t have ‘em properly prepared.”
A Godhania jumper rattled in to make it 45-27 heading to the fourth but Souderton did not let the Knights get any closer, starting the final period with a 10-1 run capped by a Danny Dyches basket. A pair of Sackor free throws with 3:03 left made it 61-31.
“We definitely prepared really hard on them,” Salone said. “We watched tons of film on ‘em, knew what they were going to run and we had many ways to stop it.”
Salone opened Tuesday’s scoring with a three. A Kikonjo jumper and two from Salone on the break had the Indians up 7-0 before Tre Simpson collected North Penn’s first points with a jumper. Salone knocked down a corner trey to make it 10-2.
“I know I didn’t have a lot of experience coming in but my teammates gave me the confidence that I needed,” Salone said. “So that made me feel that if I were to shoot a big shot and miss they got my back.”
A Watkins basket had Big Red leading 18-11 before Gee’s three before the buzzer.
Watkins drained a three to have Souderton ahead 23-15 in the second quarter. The Knights posted the next five points, pulling to within 23-20 on a basket from Godhania basket. Sackor responded with the next two buckets, his second off a drive putting the Indians up 27-20 at halftime.
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SOUDERTON 61, NORTH PENN 36
Souderton 18 9 18 16 – 61
North Penn 4 6 7 9 – 36
Souderton: Chanse Salone 4 3 0-0 17; Bill Sackor 6 0 4-4 16; Nolan Watkins 4 1 0-0 11; Trey Bui 2 1 0-0 9; Danny Dyches 3 0 0-0 6; Clinton Kikonjo 1 0 2-2 4; Totals 20 5 6-6 61.
North Penn: Ahmaar Godhania 5 2 1-3 17; Norman Gee 0 2 0-0 6; Aiden Atkinson 1 0 0-0 1; David Onyeanusi 1 0 0-1 2; Tre Simpson 1 0 3-6 5; Gabe Altemus 0 1 1-4 4; Totals 8 5 5-14 36.
