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By Nate Oxman
FRANCONIA TWP - It seemed as though nearly all of Souderton senior guard A.J. Picard’s 28 points were significant blows to scrappy Central Bucks South’s come-from-behind attempt Tuesday night in the second round of the District One Class AAAA playoffs.Whether it was one of his four clutch threes throughout the contest or a pair of key free throws down the stretch, Picard repeatedly provided the big bucket to brush the relentless Titans’ off his Indians’ heels.
But it was a three-point basket by another Indian that ultimately powered third-seeded Souderton to a 64-54 home win over 14th-seeded C.B. South.
Souderton was well on its way to squandering a 13-point lead when C.B. South guard Eddie Bieker buried two free throws to pull the Titans within two at 46-44 just 35 seconds into the fourth quarter.
Bieker’s free throws capped a crowd-hushing 13-2 Titan run that included a steal and layup by Matt Johns to beat the third-quarter buzzer.
It was closest the game had been since the Big Red led 10-9 midway through the first quarter.
But it would get no closer thanks to an aptly-timed triple by Kyle Connolly that stretched the Indians’ lead back to five at 49-44 and kick-started an 8-0 run that the Titans could never fully recover from.
“That was a big shot,” said Indians coach Perry Engard. “You’ve got to have yourself together to knock down shots like that, and those two guys [Connolly and Picard] do. Specifically Kyle, you’ll see that if something doesn’t go his way on one possession, he comes back right away and does something good to help the team.”
The spurt set the Indians’ advantage at 54-44 before Titans’ senior forward Nick Joerger (11 points) converted a driving layup with 4:22 to play.
That’s when Picard went to work again, extinguishing any hopes of a late C.B. South rally by sinking 7-of-8 free throws in the final 1:34 to slam the door shut on a win that clinched a berth in Friday’s district quarterfinals vs. Chester and a spot in the PIAA Class AAAA playoffs.
“They never look surprised when another team makes a run like they
[
C.B. South] did,” said Engard of his team. “We never get too high after the highs and too low after the lows. It’s a veteran team.
C.B. South] did,” said Engard of his team. “We never get too high after the highs and too low after the lows. It’s a veteran team. “I use the word chemistry a lot, but I don’t think you can use it enough with this group because if one person goes a little bit astray, you see somebody else reeling him back in. And like I said, they stay together through thick and thin. All they talked about when South made that run is that we had to tighten up and play harder and the game will be ours. We’re the better team and they all believed it.”
Joerger knocked down a pair of free throws at the 6:18 mark of the first quarter to give the Titans an early 4-3 lead before Picard answered with a runner that handed Souderton a lead it would never relinquish, despite several deeply inspired runs by South.
The first such stretch came after Connolly drained a three to put the Indians ahead 23-11 with 3:48 to play in the first half. Sophomore forward Matt Johns - who was outstanding off the bench for South, contributing 11 points - converted a runner to ignite a 10-2 Titan run that also featured five points from senior guard Mike Pincus (team-high 15 points) and a triple from senior guard Joe Maher (seven points).
Maher’s three pulled the Titans’ within four at 25-21 before Picard canned a three to push the lead back to eight.Several fantastic hustle plays by the Titans, including a gutsy play to go for a steal on Picard in the backcourt by Pincus, who poked the ball away and secured a possession that led to a layup by Johns, helped the Titans pull within 28-25 at the break.
But the daggers by the blood-thirsty Picard kept coming.
He sank a three off a set play to start to the second half to begin a 9-0 Big Red run and then converted a Titans’ turnover into two points with 2:08 left to play in the third to give his team its largest lead of the game at 44-31.
“Stars shine bright in big games,” said Engard of Picard. “A.J.’s a star. He is the kind of player that wants the ball all the time, no matter what the situation is. You can see some players are nervous, he’s just anxious. He can’t wait to get on the floor and I want to put the ball in his hands as much as I can.”
That’s when Joerger willed his team back into the ball game with another heated rally. The 6-foot-3 Joerger made a pair of three throws and then filled the lane to finish a textbook press break for a layup, to score the first four points in a 13-2 run that featured Johns’ aforementioned buzzer-beater layup to end the third and Bieker’s two free throws before Connolly’s key three-point bucket provided the final shift in momentum.
“We knew we just needed a couple of steals, a couple of threes, or easy layups to get us back in the game,” said Joerger of his team’s mindset facing the double-digit deficit.It just wasn’t quite enough.
Connolly and senior forward Nate Lewis both contributed 11 points in the win, the 14th straight for the Suburban One League Continental Conference champion Indians (22-2) since losing to the very same Titans back on Jan. 8.
“Their runs were a little bit longer than ours,” said Titans’ coach Jason Campbell. “That seemed to make the difference in the game. We closed the gap to get it close and then, unfortunately, we either didn’t hit a shot on the next possession or it was a turnover going the other way that allowed them to take away the momentum.”
Next up for Souderton is a Friday night quarterfinal vs. 11th-seeded Chester at Norristown at 6 p.m. The Clippers were a 50-42 winner over Council Rock North on Tuesday. Friday’s game will be a rematch of the Indians’ second-round district game with Chester last year, a 66-58 Clippers’ win.
“That’s a game I’m looking forward to,” said Engard. “I’ve been looking forward to it since my walk out of Chester last year. It’s funny how things happen and it will be a neutral site so it will be exciting for the fans. “Chester is a proud organization. People talk about them being down, but I don’t know how you can be down and be headed to states. So it’s going to be two good teams going at it and it’s a game that I’m sure will go to the fourth quarter and the team that does the little things will come out on top.”
C.B. South will meet sixth-seeded CR North on Friday at a time and neutral site to be determined. The winner will earn the right to move on in pursuit of District One’s ninth and final spot in the state playoffs.
“I told my guys that you have to give credit to a good team,” said Campbell. “They just outplayed us. But I was happy with our effort. I thought our guys did a good job. They never quit. They kept on fighting and they never backed down. There are just a few things we have to work on for the ninth seed game. The season’s not over yet.”
Central Bucks South (54)—Schneider 0 0-0 0; Policare 0 0-0 0; Kummer 0 0-0 0; Pincus 5 2-2 15; Joerger 3 5-8 11; Johns 5 1-2 11; Maher 2 1-2 7; Bieker 1 7-8 10; Doyle 0 0-0 0; Brown 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 16-22 54.
Souderton (64)—Picard 6 10-14 28; Moyer 2 1-2 5; Connolly 4 1-2 11; Lewis 3 5-5 11; Bishop 3 0-0 6; M. Wonderling1 0-0 2; S. Wonderling 0 1-2 1; Sergio 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 18-25 64.
Three-point goals: Pincus 3, Maher 2, Bieker; Picard 4, Connolly 2
Central Bucks South 11 14 17 12—54
Souderton 16 12 17 19—64
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