Brown stands tall for Upper Darby in win over North Penn in District 1-6A playbacks

TOWAMENCIN >> Niymire Brown’s towering presence grew more imposing as the game wore, and his game-high 20 points led Upper Darby to a 71-68 victory over North Penn in District 1-6A playbacks Tuesday night.

The win sends the 10th-seeded Royals to the fifth-place game, Friday night at No. 4 Central Bucks East. No. 6 North Penn, which nearly rallied back from an 11-point hole in the fourth, hosts No. 8 Garnet Valley Friday night in the seventh-place game.

“He’s a tough matchup for anybody because he can score down low. It’s not just his 6-foot-4 frame. He’s built like a man,” Royals coach Bob Miller said of Brown, who poured in 15 second-half points, dominating the glass and cashing in several putbacks. “You get him the ball down there and most teams are gonna have trouble.”

Upper Darby’s inside play sent the Royals into the lead for good in the third quarter. Drives by Yassir Joyner (16 points) and Nadir Myers (18 points) made it 47-43, and the visitors would lead 50-45 after three. Three buckets underneath by Brown helped pace the Royals.

Another basket by Joyner pushed the Upper Darby lead to 58-47 in the fourth. The Knights mounted a tremendous comeback but again, Brown was key for Upper Darby, this time at the foul line.

The senior sank two foul shots with 45 seconds left to extend the Royal lead to 69-64 and hit another pair with three seconds left to give the visitors a 71-68 advantage. The Knights tried to get off a potential game-tying shot but turned it over, and Upper Dublin inbounded to end it.

The Royals began districts with wins over Cheltenham and Perk Valley before falling to Lower Merion.

“Either way, I’m gonna play my heart out,” Brown said of his squad entering playbacks. “Once you step in between those lines on the court, everything should just go away and you focus on the game.”

Brown’s eight points in the fourth helped the Royals close it out.

“That’s been our quarter all year. We usually start fast and end fast,” Miller said. “It’s usually the middle two we’ve had some issues with. But at the end tonight, we had an 11-point lead and made some really dumb mistakes.

“But (North Penn’s) a good basketball team. They’re well coached. They’re disciplined, they run good stuff.”

A drive by Ahmaar Godhania brought the Knights within 65-59 and Godhania (14 points) later hit a three from deep to slice the margin to 67-64. North Penn later crept to within 69-68 with 12 seconds left on a drive by Ryan Deininger (16 points), but Brown stood tall at the other end for the Royals.

North Penn scored 23 in the fourth, nearly erasing the deficit.

“We put on a lot of pressure at the end to get them out of their comfort zone and converted on a couple steals,” said Knights senior Ryan Zeltt. “(What we take away is) that it’s gonna go down to the wire, no matter what.”

Both squads now look to Friday.

“Garnet Valley’s a good team. We’ll have a good week of practice, get ready, and hopefully have a win and get ready for states,” said Zeltt.

Upper Darby 71, North Penn 68
Upper Darby 13 18 19 21 — 71
North Penn 16 16 13 23 — 68
Upper Darby: Khysir Slaughter 5 2-2 14, Nadir Myers 7 0-0 18, Yassir Joyner 6 4-7 16, Niymire Brown 7 6-9 20, Shaun Cain 1 0-0 3. Totals 26 12-18 71.
North Penn: Ahmaar Godhania 5 0-0 14, Norman Gee 4 2-3 11, Ryan Zeltt 2 0-0 6, Ryan Deininger 7 2-2 16, Corey Meade 6 2-4 14, Nicholas Hoffman 2 0-0 4, Mario Sgro 1 0-0 2, Lee Hammond 0 1-2 1. Totals 27 7-11 68.
3-pointers: UD-Slaughter 2, Myers 4, Cain; NP-Godhania 4, Gee, Zeltt 2.