SOL Patriot Division
PENNSBURY 44, COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 33
The Falcons closed out their regular season with a come-from-behind win over the Indians. With the Falcons’ position at the top of the division already secured, there wasn’t a whole lot at stake in this contest, but that didn’t keep Ty Kocak from turning in a stellar outing, finishing with a game-high 22 points to go along with a team-high eight rebounds as well as two assists.
“It was a weird game in that we have almost everything sealed,” Pennsbury coach Wes Emme said. “There’s a little bit of movement that could be had in the district playoffs but not a whole lot.
“Obviously, you want to finish strong and finish healthy, which we didn’t. Our point guard (Teddy Mangan) went down with an injury in the first half. That’s tough. You want to come out of things unscathed.”
Mangan will most likely be sidelined for the upcoming SOL tournament with the hopes that he will be ready to go when the District 1 6A Tournament begins next week.
“I’ve kind of knocked on wood all year long when we’ve talked about coming out of things unscathed,” Emme said. “In the two games that we didn’t have one of our core guys, we lost. We played without Danny Cohen at Holy Ghost, and we played without Eric David against Bensalem the first time.
“We have an understanding of how we have to play with the core guys in our rotation. I think the challenge is – you don’t have to try to do everything that Teddy does, which is control the game, get us into our offense, make opportune shots, but what you do have to do is you have to make one more play. You have to make one more defensive play, you have to make one more shot. You have to step in one more time in a rotation because he does all those things for you that can’t really be measured.”
The Falcons won Wednesday’s contest despite the loss of Mangan, although the Indians had the better of play in the first half, opening up a 25-18 lead. Kocak’s 10 first-half points led the Falcons, who took control of the game in the second half. They outscored their hosts 15-5 in the third quarter and 26-8 in the half to earn the win in their league finale.
“We started real slow and battled back,” Emme said. “Their 1-3-1 is a unique challenge. You don’t see it much during the season, and then you have to prepare in one night to play against it. We struggled with it early. It took us a little bit to get going.
“I think our defense in the second half kind of changed the momentum of the game. Ty Kocak was great in the second half scoring. Playing through Ryan Zuckerman in the interior really, really opened up our offense for the guys on the perimeter.”
Also for the Falcons, Connor Taddei had 10 points. Zuckerman had seven rebounds and two assists, and Cohen led the Falcons with three steals.
For the Indians, Micah Oxley’s eight points led the way while Adam Mahtat and Jack Blum both had seven.
Pennsbury closed out its regular season with a 16-6 record overall and the SOL Patriot Division title with a 12-4 record. The Falcons will host an opening round game in the SOL Tournament on Friday. Council Rock North (8-8 SOL) wrapped up its season with a 12-10 record.
Pennsbury 9-9-15-11 44
Council Rock North 14-11-5-3. 33
Pennsbury (44) – Mike Roccograndi 1 0-0 3; Danny Cohen 2 0-0 5; Sam Callahan 1 0-2 2; Connor Taddei 3 2-3 10; Ty Kocak 7 6-9 22; Ryan Zuckerman 1 0-0 2; TOTALS 15 8-14 44.
Council Rock North (33) – Oliver Schaefer 1 0-0 3; Tyler rodowicz 2 0-0 4; Cole McCarthy 1 0-0 2; Micah Oxley 3 1-2 8; Adam Mahtat 3 0-1 7; Jack Blum 3 1-2 7; Luke Blum 1 0-0 2; TOTALS 14 2-5 33.
3-point goals: Pennsbury – Connor Taddei 2, Ty Kocak 2, Mike Roccograndi, Danny Cohen; CRN – Micah Oxley, Adam Mahtat.
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