Maue helps Souderton hold off Council Rock South, snap 4-game skid

FRANCONIA >> Aiden Maue has been working to assert himself more in the Souderton boys basketball team’s offense.

“I haven’t always been a scorer,” the junior said. “I think I just thought of myself as more of a defense player. I’ve been trying to get more shots up, better shots, just play smarter.”

Maue helped the Indians’ strong start Friday night, collecting nine points as Souderton built a 29-15 halftime lead against visiting Council Rock South in their Suburban One League crossover contest.

But after the break, the Golden Hawks’ began knocking down their 3-pointers and early in the fourth quarter had whittled the margin down to just three after Michael Burns’ trey had South within 40-37.

Maue, however, provided a needed response for Big Red – draining a three from the left wing, the start of an 8-0 run that pushed Souderton’s advantage to 11 with just over five minutes remaining.

“That was a big shot,” Maue said. “I was ready to catch-and-shoot and just knock it down.”

Council Rock South kept hitting from long range but the Indians did enough down the stretch to hold on for a 59-57 victory to snap their four-game losing streak.

“We’ve been in almost every single game, it’s just that we haven’t been able to execute or finish it out but this game we were able to do that,” said Maue, who is also a cross country standout, running the seventh-best time at the SOL Championships last October. “We had a nice crowd and we were just hitting a lot of shots, they were falling.”

Maue was one of four Souderton players to score in double figures, as both he and Levi John posted a team-high 14 points. Nate Hemsing added 12 points for the Indians (6-10, 5-6 SOL Colonial) while James Blair had seven of his 11 points in the second quarter.

“We got some really tough losses but we had great energy coming into the game,” Indians coach Okoteh Sackitey said. “I think we had a couple of good practices so we were excited to come out here and compete tonight. I think the team stuck together, I think the seniors really stepped up and led the way and I’m proud of the team for the togetherness that they played with, I’m proud of the resiliency that they played with.

“And I think that was the difference and I think that’s why we were able to close it out tonight is we just stuck together and I’m really proud of that.”

Nine of Council Rock South’s 11 3-pointers came after halftime, Tim Rahill hitting four in scoring 15 in the second half as he finished with 17 points. Matthew Robinson made a trio of 3-pointers in recording a game-high 21 points – 16 in the second half – while Burns had 11 points as the Golden Hawks (3-14, 1-10 SOL Patriot) lost their eighth straight.

“Our plan once they started hitting was just close out, know who the shooters are and try to take them away,” Maue said. “They were hitting them really well but we were just trying to switch everything, that way there wasn’t an open man anywhere and just try to prevent them from getting those threes.”

After Maue’s fourth quarter three put the Indians up 43-27, John provided a basket then Blair worked to get inside, scored and drew the foul – converting the free throw for the 3-point play and a 48-37 lead with 5:02 left.

Burns hit two free throws at 4:51 then drained a three, pulling South to within 48-42. Chanse Salone’s pair at the line put the Indians up eight before an Evan Bidwell trey had the Golden Hawks down 50-45.

With 1:14 remaining, Salone made the front end of a 1-and-1 to give Souderton a 53-47 edge but Rahill’s three from the left corner made it 53-50.

“Basketball’s a game of runs so they were obviously able to come back,” Maue said. “But our fourth was just listening to Coach O and just trying to pay attention to what they were doing and try to counteract that.”

Hemsing was fouled at 52.5 seconds and with the Indians in the double bonus he hit both at the line. After a South missed three, John was fouled and made a pair of free throws for a 57-50 lead with 38.1 seconds.

CR South got within three one last time at 58-55 on a Rahill trey with 9.4 seconds. Salone converted second of two at the line with 8.4 seconds to make a two-possession game with Robinson adding a putback at the buzzer for the final score.

“I think it’s human nature to get comfortable when you have a big lead like that and it’s also human nature to be hungrier when you are down,” Sackitey said. “So I think we just needed to take a breath and regroup and stay the course and realize that this is a team that’s going to compete the whole way. So we settled down and executed and finished the game.”

Souderton hosts a nonleague matchup with Perkiomen Valley noon Saturday then visits Central Bucks South 7 p.m. Tuesday. Council Rock South is at Bensalem 7 p.m. Tuesday.

“We’ve been playing well kind of all year, we just haven’t been able to close out a couple of games so it feels good to close out this one,” Sackitey said. “The kids, their heads are up, the confidence is there cause we know what we’re capable of. We’ve played really good basketball at many different times, it’s just putting it together for a full 32 minutes. But we know what we’re capable of and we know we can compete with anybody in the district.”

The Indians never trailed Friday, jumping out to a 7-0 lead. A Maue 3-pointer had Big Red up 14-7 before a George O’Brien free throw made it 14-8 after a quarter.

Baskets by Blair and Maue gave Souderton its first double-digit advantage at 18-8. After a bucket from South’s Jordan Getz, the Indians went on a 7-0 run – the first five from Blair followed by Maue scoring off a feed from John – for a 25-10 lead.

“Both sides of the ball were working offense and defense,” Maue said. “I think we had great play calling and then also just a lot of our shots were falling, Nathan hit some big shots, Blair was throwing dimes everywhere, just we were moving up and down, outrunning them.”

CR South pulled with 12 twice before a Jared Zimmerman layup off a Blair assist made it 29-15 at halftime.

A John basket had Souderton leading 33-20 in the third but consecutive 3-pointers from Rahill and Robinson had the Golden Hawks down seven.

Hemsing knocked down a trey to give the Indians a 38-28 lead but Rahill and Robinson again hit back-to-back thees – the later in the third’s final seconds – to have South down 40-34. Maue’s basket just ahead of the buzzer put Big Red up six heading to the fourth.

Souderton 59, Council Rock South 57
Council Rock South 8 7 19 23 – 57
Souderton 14 15 11 19 – 59
Council Rock South: Matthew Robinson 7 4-4 21; Tim Rahill 6 1-1 17; Michael Burns 3 2-4 11; Evan Bidwell 1 0-0 3; Jordan Getz 1 0-0 2; Aiden Wallace 0 2-2 2; George O’Brien 0 1-2 1; Totals 18 10-13 57.
Souderton: Levi John 5 4-4 14; Aiden Maue 6 0-0 14; Nate Hemsing 4 2-2 12; James Blair 4 2-5 11; Chanse Salone 0 4-6 4; Jared Zimmerman 1 2-2 4; Totals 20 14-19 59.
3-pointers: CRS-Rahill 4, Burns 3, Robinson 3, Bidwell; S-Hemsing 2, Maue 2, Blair.