SOUTH COVENTRY >> Last week, Norristown suffered a pair of tough Pioneer Athletic Conference losses. The Eagles fell to Methacton and Perkiomen Valley by a combined seven points.
After the loss to PV, coach Chris Podsobinski told his guys what it was going to take to extend their season. They needed to win their next three games.
After beating Upper Merion Saturday and Boyertown Tuesday, Norristown completed the three-game road trip with an 80-70 PAC Liberty Division win over Owen J. Roberts Thursday night to secure their spot in the PAC playoffs.
“I put it in front of them and they accomplished it,” Podsobinski said. “It wasn’t pretty at times. We had a fight at Boyertown on Tuesday. On the road is a different atmosphere than at home. You’ve got to give it to them. They’re all seniors and they didn’t want it to end. I thought we all stepped up as a team. Our whole motto has been pack mentality together and I thought we played together tonight pretty well.”
“Back against the wall, that’s fight or flight,” guard Miles Daniels said of the three-game winning streak. “It makes it more special that we had to really get after it.”
It wasn’t an easy win for Norristown (11-10, 7-6 PAC, 4-6 PAC Liberty). After leading by more than 10 points in the third quarter, the margin was trimmed to two twice in the fourth – 56-54 and 58-56. The Eagles responded with 13 straight points over three minutes to make it a 71-56 game.
“We started taking care of the ball and playing defense,” Podsobinski said. “They were getting easy buckets off our turnovers. When we take care of the ball, it’s hard to score on us, especially tonight. I thought our defense was good in the half-court. We’re trying to make them work for buckets.”
Rashon Giddens scored four points during the game-defining stretch, including a putback to start the run. Kevin Bonds also had four in those three minutes while Daniels hit a three and Jaylen Byrd made a layup.
“We just made a couple of silly decisions and lost a little bit of our composure,” OJR coach Ben Condello said. “Against a team like Norristown, you make a mistake or two and you go from being down two to down eight in the matter of a couple seconds.”
Owen J. Roberts (8-13, 3-10 PAC, 1-9 PAC Liberty) was able to get its deficit down to nine, 75-66, but that’s as close as it would get.
Byrd made another layup to get the lead back into double digits and put the exclamation point on the win with an alley oop to Myon Kirlew, who slammed it home for a 79-66 lead with 45 seconds left.
“(Kirlew is) going to go get it every time,” Byrd,who finished with eight assists, said. “I trust him with everything. That’s my guy.”
It was a balanced offensive night for the Eagles. Bonds led the way with 21 points while Byrd added 18, Daniels 15, Kirlew 14 and Giddens 12.
Giddens, who is in his first year playing basketball, was dominant on the glass. He grabbed 20 rebounds, including six on the offensive end.
“My uncle and my dad just showed me how to box out and grab rebounds and come down with it aggressive,” the senior said.
Defensively, Norristown made it an emphasis to try to slow down OJR’s Luke Fryer, who is third all-time in program scoring. Daniels spent most of his night following Fryer the entire length of the floor and chasing him around screens. Daniels got some breathers and double-team help from teammates as they limited the prolific scorer to 12 points.
“Luke is one of the most skilled players we had to guard all season,” Daniels said. “You really have to have conditioning running through a whole bunch of screens, staying with him on the court. It was a lot of running in practice.”
“Make somebody else beat you,” Podsobinski said, “not the kid that scores 1,000 and averages 25. I thought we did a good job. Fryer had a good game, but we knew it would be hard for them to beat us if he didn’t go off. That was the game plan coming in.”
All six Wildcats who scored finished with six or more points. Elijah Cline led the team with 20 points while Danny Walker added 13, Colin King 11, Mekhi Graham eight and Jack Cashman six.
“I’m proud of the way we battled,” Condello said. “We got down pretty big there in the third quarter. I thought we were going to come back there at the end. We just continued to attack. It wasn’t just one or two guys. We were attacking, pressuring, getting layups, getting on the glass. I just like the way we attacked their pressure. … The bottom line is offense wasn’t the problem tonight scoring 70. When you give up 80 it’s a little bit hard.”
Both teams have one game left this season. Norristown hosts Pottstown Friday while OJR welcomes Phoenixville Saturday.
Norristown entered Thursday’s game ranked 24th, the final playoff spot, in the District 1-6A rankings. The win over OJR could be enough to earn their place in the playoffs, but a win over Pottstown should secure it.
“If we don’t (beat Pottstown) then it’s a lot of math,” Podsobinski said.
Norristown 80, Owen J. Roberts 70
Norristown 21 14 21 24 – 80
Owen J. Roberts 17 11 22 20 – 70
N: Jayden Byrd 9 0 0-0 18, Miles Daniels 3 3 0-0 15, CJ John 0 0 0-0 0, Rashon Giddens 5 0 2-3 12, Kevin Bonds 6 2 0-0 21, Myon Kirlew 3 2 2-2 14, Tyson Tuggle 0 0 0-0 0. Total 26 8 4-5 80.
OJR: Ron Kanyangarara 0 0 0-0 0, Danny Walker 2 3 0-0 13, Luke Fryer 4 1 1-2 12, Elijah Cline 10 0 0-0 20, Ryan Holmburg 0 0 0-0 0, Jack Cashman 2 0 2-2 6, Gavin Winnick 0 0 0-0 0, Colin King 4 0 3-4 11, Mekhi Graham 4 0 0-0 8. Total 26 4 6-8 70.
![Sunoco Race Fuels, well known in the Philadelphia area and the largest manufacturer of racing gasolines in the world, will fuel Kubota High Limit Racing for the 2024 season and beyond as the “Official Racing Fuel of High Limit Racing.” Sunoco Race Fuels has 60 years of on-track victories and will now add Kubota High Limit Racing wins to its storied history. Sunoco is also the official fuel of NASCAR. “Sunoco Race Fuels is thrilled to be a part of the High Limit Racing family and proud to be the official fuel of one of the most exciting forms of […]](https://www.timesherald.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Ray-Evernham.jpg?w=620 "Sunoco Race Fuels, well known in the Philadelphia area and the largest manufacturer of racing gasolines in the world, will fuel Kubota High Limit Racing for the 2024 season and beyond as the “Official Racing Fuel of High Limit Racing.” Sunoco Race Fuels has 60 years of on-track victories and will now add Kubota High Limit Racing wins to its storied history. Sunoco is also the official fuel of NASCAR. “Sunoco Race Fuels is thrilled to be a part of the High Limit Racing family and proud to be the official fuel of one of the most exciting forms of […]")
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