Pennridge stays on course, holds off rival Souderton

FRANCONIA >> Souderton never let up, but Pennridge played with a fourth-quarter calm it hopes to carry forward.

“We felt this was gonna be a tough game,” Rams coach Dean Behrens said of Friday night’s clash with the rival Big Red. “(Coach Okoteh Sackitey) has got them playing hard. They’re still engaged. Whether it’s Souderton, Central Bucks East or anyone else in the division, they’re gonna be hard-fought games. This league has shown how difficult it is on a night-in, night-out basis. So we feel good about this win.”

The Rams brought it all together in the fourth quarter to produce a 59-52 win in the Suburban One League Colonial battle at Souderton.

“It’s a big win, especially coming off the North Penn loss. We just looked to bounce back,” said Pennridge’s Matt Campione, who scored a team-high 15 points. “We had won five in a row before that so it was good to get back on a winning track, especially with us still in the hunt for the playoffs and maybe even with a chance to make the Suburban One League Challenge.”

The Rams raised their overall record to 13-6 while improving to 8-5 in the Colonial. Souderton is now 6-13 on the season and is 5-8 in the Colonial.

“Last year, the roles were reversed a little bit, and we stole one at home against them when they were fighting for the playoffs. That’s what I was afraid they were trying to do to us,” Behrens said. “(Souderton coach Okoteh Sackitey) has really got his team prepared.”

Souderton surged ahead 43-42 early in the fourth on a drive to the hoop by Levi John (15 points), but the Rams quickly answered at the other end on a floater by Gannon Perlini.

A baseline drive by Campione extended the Ram lead to 46-43, and then a coast-to-coast layup by Xavier Peters (14 points) worked the lead to 48-43 at the four-minute mark.

Peters did a tremendous job controlling the ball for the Rams and also limited Big Red’s James Blair to six points.

Said Behrens: “That was a tough match-up and Xavier did a great job.”

Big Red tightened things to 48-46 on a three by Nate Hemsing, but Pennridge pushed the lead back to five on a three by Ryan Hass.

Campione came through at the foul line twice in the final minute and a half, hitting all four of his shots to ice the game.

“It’s big to hit those so it felt good,” said a smiling Campione. “I try to shoot at the line a lot, whether it’s at practice or in my driveway. It’s just going through the motions and getting the shots up.

“Xavier hit a nice shot to kind of settle us,” he said of the fourth, “and then Tommy Cramer hit that three to put us up and that kind of pushed us. And we just played calm throughout.”

The two squads battled to a 13-13 draw after one quarter and then the Rams took a 29-25 edge into the break.

Perlini and Hass provided a big boost off the bench for the Rams, countering a tremendous effort by Souderton.

“I was extremely impressed with (Chanse) Salone. He’s a freshman and I thought he played an outstanding game,” Behrens said. “Both teams shot the ball well in that first half. It was a little bit of a slower game than I would have liked. Defensively, we got it together the last couple minutes of the game. It wasn’t one of our better defensive performances or rebounding performances but we did enough to win the game.”

Pennridge 59, Souderton 52
Pennridge 13 16 13 17 – 59
Souderton 13 12 13 14 – 52
Pennridge: 0 Caden Fisher 4 0-0 8; 2 Jake Buesing 3 0-1 7; 3 Gannon Perlini 3 0-0 7; 4 Matt Campione 5 5-6 15; 13 Xavier Peters 6 1-2 14; 31 Tommy Cramer 2 0-0 5; 32 Ryan Hass 1 0-0 3. Totals 24 6-9 59.
Souderton: 0 Nate Hemsing 4 0-0 10; 1 Jared Zimmerman 1 1-2 3; 11 James Blair 3 0-0 6; 12 Chanse Salone 4 0-0 10; 21 Aiden Maue 3 0-0 8; 23 Levi John 6 2-2 15. Totals 21 3-4 52.
3-pointers: P-Buesing, Perlini; Peters; Cramer; Hass; S-Hemsing 2; Salone 2; Maue 2; John.