Hatboro-Horsham edges Souderton to end long skid

FRANCONIA >> Seconds felt like an eternity for Hatboro-Horsham’s Khalid Johnson after Souderton’s Jack Towsen let go of a 3-point shot just before the buzzer.

“Everything was in slow motion,” Johnson said. “My heart dropped, I looked up in the air, the ball was moving in slow motion. Praying to God like he didn’t make it.”

Maybe someone heard Johnson pleas. After the Hatters, leading by a point, missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 10.0 seconds left, Andrew Vince drove and kicked out to Towsen for a three from the right wing. But the shot hit the back of the rim and the Hatters survived, earning a 44-43 Suburban One League boys basketball non-conference victory Monday night.

“It was kind of get down and attack the rim and get the best shot we could and we take that shot 10 times out of 10,” Souderton coach Tim Brown said. “Jack Towsen is a great shooter and he’s pretty knockdown from that spot. But it just didn’t turn out.”

In a matchup of two sides looking to end skids, it was the Hatters’ work through the first three quarters that was enough to hold off a Big Red charge in the fourth and snap a 10-game losing streak.

“I think it was another minute we might have been in some trouble,” Hatboro-Horsham coach Ed Enoch said. “But, you know what, we won and at this juncture of the season we needed a W really bad. So it’s a good win for us.”

The Hatters (3-10, 0-6 SOL American) never trailed after Solomon McNair’s 3-point play at 2:32 in the first quarter put them 10-8 but the Hatboro-Horsham had to sweat out its first win since beating Council Rock South Dec. 8. Jack Marvin’s 3-pointer gave the Hatters a 42-33 advantage in the fourth before Souderton ended the contest scoring 10 of the final 12 points.

“For three-and-half quarters I thought we played pretty well,” Enoch said. “We took pretty good shots, we defended well. We were pretty small today with two of our bigger kids but I thought we battled.”

Johnson had a team-high 17 points while McNair scored all 12 of his points in the first half of the Hatters, who are back on the court Tuesday visiting Plymouth Whitemarsh at 7 p.m.

“We just got to keep rolling with the punches,” Johnson said. “One game at a time, play as a team, play hard every night out and different results will show.”

Andrew Vince collected 12 of his game-high 18 points in the second half as Souderton (4-10, 1-4 SOL Continental) dropped its fourth straight. Mekhi Williams added 13 points — nine coming after halftime.

Souderton also plays Tuesday, hitting the road to face Quakertown at 7 p.m.

“Energy just wasn’t there, just wasn’t where it needed to be for three-and-a-half quarters,” Brown said. “We can’t think we’re going to turn it for a half, a quarter and be all right. That will to win that they played with for the last four minutes of the fourth is what we need for 32 minutes. No, it’s just not going to cut it any other way. We play in too good of a league to ever think that that kind of performance can win.”

The Hatters led 36-29 after three quarters with Johnson extended the advantage to 10 just 28 seconds into the fourth with a 3-point play off a tough underhand layup.

“I practice that shot a lot with my dad,” Johnson said. “Since I’m a small guys I got to figure out ways to finish at the basket.”

Vince answered with a 3-pointer from the top of the arc while a Sam Chouiraf free throw made it 39-33 with 5:46 left before Marvin’s triple had the Hatters up nine.

Williams connected on two free throws at 2:47 then hit the front end of a 1-and-1 with 1:19 left, slicing Big Red’s deficit down to 42-36. A Chouiraf layup off a steal cut the margin to four before Johnson made both ends of a 1-and-1 to increase HH’s lead to 44-38 at 59.6 seconds.

Vince got Big Red back within four, scoring inside off a Towsen pass at 48.6 seconds. Following a Hatters backcourt violation, Vince kept the Big Red possession going with an offensive rebound and Williams ended up connecting on a 3-pointer from the wing, putting the Indians down 44-42 with 15.1 seconds left.

“That fight that we’ve been talking about as far as bringing it 32 minutes, you know you’re going to get that 32 minutes from AV every single time,” said Brown of Vince. “So everybody needs to follow his lead and do what he’s doing.”

With 10.0 seconds, McNair could not hit the front end of a 1-and-1 and Souderton — without a time out — worked up the court, Vince getting into the lane before finding Towsen on the wing for a game-winning 3-point try. But the shot was off-target and the buzzer sounded before a putback attempt by Zach Thatcher.

“We haven’t had a lot of leads late in the game,” Enoch said. “We had an eight, 10-point lead and we just didn’t do a good job of protecting it. We got careless with the ball. We took a couple shots that we didn’t need to shoot — quick shots and we missed, which gives them opportunities to come down and score. We just didn’t handle the last couple minutes of the game real well.”

Monday’s matchup started with Vince hitting a pair of free throws after the Hatters were assessed a technical foul for dunking during pregame. A Chouiraf trey made it 5-0 Big Red with Souderton taking its biggest lead after a Towsen triple made it 8-2. Hatboro-Horsham, however, ended the first quarter with 12 straight points — a Johnson turnaround jumper giving the visitors a 14-8 advantage after eight minutes.

A Williams bucket had the Indians with 17-14 before a Johnson 3-pointer started a 7-2 run that had the Hatters up 24-16 at halftime.

Hatboro-Horsham held its largest lead at 29-18 early in the third after a Johnson basket. The Hatters cut the margin to six twice in the quarter — the second time at 35-29 after a Vince drive down the lane but a N’Gianni Cerisier free throw had HH up seven entering the fourth.