Davis comes up big in 4th, Hatboro-Horsham holds off Souderton

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FRANCONIA >> Things seemed to be under control for the Hatboro-Horsham boys basketball team Monday night.

A seven-point burst to open the second quarter had the Hatters up 28-10 on host Souderton and after leading 34-21 at halftime Clifton Moore’s 3-pointer to begin the third extended the edge to 16.

But by the time the fourth quarter began, Hatboro-Horsham’s advantage was sliced down to a just a single point.

Jay Davis, however, was not going to let this game slip out of the Hatters’ grasp.

“I felt like if I got going, the team would get going and we’d get the W,” he said.

Davis was the catalyst for the Hatters starting the fourth with eight straight points — six coming from the senior, including a breakaway slam off a steal to cap the run. Davis collected 10 of his game-high 22 points in the quarter as Hatboro-Horsham held off the Indians to claim a 59-52 Suburban One League non-conference victory.

“We’ve done it all year. We’ve built up big leads and then we I don’t know get complacent of something, but then we came in the game and fight at the end,” Hatters coach Ed Enoch said. “And we were lucky we held them off today.

“It’s a good win, don’t get me wrong, Souderton’s a good program and we have a lot of respect for them. (Mike) Bealer gets it going and they knocked down five threes in about a two-minute stretch there, which that in itself can turn a game around pretty quickly.”

Moore added 17 points for Hatboro-Horsham (11-8, 7-5 SOL American), which won for the third time in four games — the lone loss coming last Friday to Plymouth Whitemarsh.

“We played very well for the first quarter-and-a-half,” Enoch said. “We got up 18 at one point and I thought at that point for about two quarters that game was in Souderton’s half of the court. They took control of the game and I think the last three minutes, I was proud of our kids. They got it down to one and we held them off and got the W.”

Bealer connected on four 3-pointers in the second half and finished with 16 points to pace Souderton (7-12, 3-6 SOL Continental), which lost its fifth straight. Matt Cartwright chipped in 13 points while Noah Horas had 11 points.

“It’s definitely frustrating but we all believe in each other, we’re all there for each other,” Bealer said. “We’re just trying to fight through it.”

The Hatters came on fast, with alley-oop slams and strong defense to build an 18-point lead early in the second quarter. The margin was 13 at the break before Moore’s triple made it 37-24, but for the rest of the third Hatboro-Horsham could not put in a few good looks while Souderton got going from beyond the arc.

The Indians knocked down five 3-pointers in the third — three by Bealer — and outscored HH 22-7 after going down 16 to pull within 44-43 entering the fourth.

“We just talked about everything we needed to do. At halftime, the coaches went out and we just talked as a team and really bonded and just talked about how we need to bring energy,” Bealer said. “Just bring the fire and not care what the score is or about what they’re doing, just care about us and play as a team.”

But Davis gave momentum back to the Hatters, hitting back-to-back to start the last quarter for a 48-43 lead. Brandon Crews scored inside off a nice pass from Chris Edwards while Davis threw down a dunk after his steal to make it a 52-43.

“I just brought my energy out and hoped my team came together and we did,” Davis said.

A Bealer three cut Big Red’s deficit to 52-46 but Davis answered to put the Hatters up eight. After a Horas basket had the Indians back within six Moore drained a corner triple for a 57-48 lead and the closest Souderton got after that was seven.

“I think they shifted the momentum towards the end. Once (Davis) got that dunk I feel like we all got down on ourselves,” Bealer said. “We can’t let that happen. That’s the whole thing, the whole emotions with us has been a big problem this year.”

Both teams are on the road Tuesday for conference games at 7 p.m. — Souderton visits Central Bucks West while Hatboro-Horsham is at Upper Dublin.

A Trevor Watts bucket had the Indians leading 5-2 in the first quarter Monday but Moore slammed in an alley-oop from Chris Edwards to start an 11-0 run that put the Hatters up 13-5 after a Ryan Black drive down the lane.

Bealer pulled Souderton to within six before Hatboro-Horsham ended the quarter scoring eight of the final 10 points — Black collecting the last of his eight points with a three for a 21-10 Hatters advantage entering the second.

A Moore three, Davis jumper and Moore hook shot gave Hatboro-Horsham its biggest lead at 28-10. Souderton ripped off five straight points to get within 28-15. The Hatters stretched its lead to 16 twice before a DJ Landis bucket in the finals seconds had the Indians’ halftime deficit at 34-21.

“It was our defense. We really played well defensively,” Enoch said. “We got some stops, we got a couple blocks and got some run outs. When we get in transition off our defense then we’re pretty good.

“Then I don’t know what happened. We started turning the ball over. We had, I think, 12 turnovers at halftime in a game we were up 12 to 13 at half with 12 turnovers, that’s pretty bad. Most of the turnovers occurred after we had the 18-point lead. We just didn’t take care of the ball.”

Moore’s trey to start the second half increased the margin to 37-21 but Souderton was within 39-28 after a Cartwright jumper. Davis scored off a turnover to make it 41-38 before the Indians connected on three-straight three-pointers — the first by Horas, the next two by Bealer — to cut their deficit to 41-37.

Cartwright found Jake Groller inside to get the Hatters’ lead down to 42-40. Edwards hit a jumper but Cartwright buried a trey to have Big Red a point away. Souderton had a chance to go ahead in the third quarter’s final seconds, but Bealer was off-target on a three attempt.

Hatboro-Horsham 59, Souderton 52
Hatboro-Horsham 21 13 10 15 — 59
Souderton 10 11 22 9 — 52
Hatboro-Horsham: Jay Davis 11 1-7 23; Clifton Moore 6 2-2 17; Ryan Black 3 0-2 8; Chris Edwards 2 1-2 6; Brandon Crews 2 1-1 5. Totals 24 5-14 59.
Souderton: Mike Bealer 6 0-0 16; Matt Cartwright 5 0-0 13; Noah Horas 4 1-2 11; Jake Groller 1 0-0 2; DJ Landis 1 0-0 2; Antonio Rodriguez 1 0-0 2. Totals 21 1-2 52.
Three-pointers: HH-Moore 3, Black 2,  Edwards; S-Bealer 4, Cartwright 3, Horas 2.

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Mike Cabrey

Mike Cabrey
Mike Cabrey is the Assistant Sports Editor for The Reporter and Montgomery News. Email him at mcabrey@thereporteronline.com.

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