North Penn Uses 2nd Half Surge to Eliminate Pennsbury From SOL Tournament

By: Jordan Hirsh

February 11, 2023

FAIRLESS HILLS, PA. – The 4-seed Pennsbury Falcons were eliminated from the SOL Tournament in the 1^st round on Friday, after losing to the 5-seed North Penn Knights, 46-40.

This was a battle of two teams who win in different ways. North Penn is a team that utilizes their outstanding speed very well, and will often look to turn games into a track meet. They consistently play high-scoring games because of this.

Conversely, Pennsbury is a team that likes to take their time and keep the game at a slower pace. The Falcons have only allowed a team to score over 60 points once this season (Ironically, it was North Penn in their meeting back in January). Meanwhile, the Knights have eclipsed the 60-point mark twelve times this year.

This game started out just how Pennsbury wanted. They controlled the pace of play in the first quarter, getting buckets at the rim and hitting all four of their free throws, in route to a 14-4 lead after one.

The second quarter saw North Penn cut into the deficit a bit. Five different Knights scored in the stanza, trimming the Falcons’ lead to 25-19 at halftime. Still, Pennsbury was doing an exceptional job containing North Penn’s speed, especially in the half-court game, where the Knights typically punish defenses that do not have the energy to counter their explosiveness.

After halftime, however, it started going south for the Falcons. North Penn junior guard Teddy McAllister caught fire, scoring 11 of his game-high 16 points in the third quarter. He scored 8 straight points as part of an 11-0 Knights run that saw the score shift from 27-21 in favor of Pennsbury, to 32-27 North Penn.

The Falcons fought their way back, however, and retook the lead, 40-38, with just under five minutes to play, by way of a Ty Kocak layup in traffic for 2 of his team-high 14 points.

Unfortunately for Pennsbury, that would be the last basket they would make. The Knights regained the lead, 41-40, with 2:37 to play, after Norman Gee swished home a triple as part of an 8 point fourth quarter for the junior guard. Clutch free throws by Gee, as well as senior forwards Ryan Zeltt and Nicholas Hoffman, combined with cold shooting from the Falcons, put the game away.

North Penn will now travel to Plymouth Whitemarsh High School to take on the top-seeded Colonials in the SOL semifinals on Saturday. As for Pennsbury, their season is not over. They will host the first round of the PIAA 6A District 1 playoffs on either Thursday or Friday of next week. Their opponent, at this time, is TBD.