Griffin Schmidt scored 39 points to lead Quakertown to its first SOL win of the season, a 71-52 victory over Souderton in an SOL Featured Game sponsored by Millennium Administrators in memory of Mark Picard. To view Keith Clemens’ photos of all the action, please visit the Photo Gallery.
By Scott Huff
Quakertown – Souderton entered its Suburban One League Continental Conference game on an impressive two game winning streak. The Indians defeated a pair of ‘playoff bubble’ teams in Council Rock North (63-54 in double overtime) and Hatboro-Horsham (61-59). But the Big Red – minus senior captain Tracy Simsick (injury) - could not capture its third straight win as Souderton fell hard to host Quakertown, 71-52.
“It was a disappointing loss,” said Souderton head coach Chuck Kornegay. “They played well in front of a home crowd – and we didn’t take advantage of the momentum we created in the second half.”
Souderton opened the game turning the ball over and fell behind 20-9 early. But the Big Red rallied to trail by just 33-28 at the close of the first half.
And the Indians got as close as 43-40 with 1:42 left in the third period on a scoring drive to the bucket by Austin Eberhart (team-high 19 points) – but a (player) technical foul led to a 7-3 Panther run at the end of the third period to present the winners with a 50-43 lead by the close of the period.
“That was a momentum changer,” said Kornegay of the technical foul. “It was an emotional and statistical hole that we were never to recover from.”
“That was the key part of the game,” said Quakertown head coach Kevin Keeler. “We had gotten out to first half leads in a few games this year, but we were never able to finish them. We finished tonight.”
Instead of Souderton building on a two-game win streak - it was the home Panthers that extended their winning streak to two games. Q-town defeated Neshaminy 55-54 in the SOL Challenge Tournament and followed with its first SOL Continental Conference win of the season against the surging Indians.
Clearly the best player of the floor was Quakertown senior Griffin Schmidt. Schmidt was marvelous every second he was on the floor in scoring a game-high 39 points and dishing off assists to teammates that resulted in easy baskets.
“For us to be able to win our first league game was very important,” said Schmidt – who remarkably has no serious college offers. “It means a lot for the players on this team to win some games. We will go to North Penn and try to get another win.”
“There is no question that he should be going somewhere to play basketball next year,” said Kornegay. “We changed defense to try and stop him – had hands in his face – and he got it done with some off balance shots.”
“Every night Griffin is unbelievable,” said Keeler of his superlative southpaw guard. “I have been making phone calls to schools – and eventually somebody is going to offer him something.
“He has the strength to finish drives and he can take hits going to the basket,” added Keeler. “He is just a special player.”
Griffin scored 11 points in the first quarter – 11 points in the second quarter – and 11 points in the fourth quarter to showcase his balanced scoring.
“You look at the box score and sometime you wonder how he scored 39 points,” said Keeler. “But he does that every game.
“Now we go into the North Penn game with the idea that we can win another game,” said Keeler. “To be able to win these last two games is great for our confidence.”
JR Grimmage also finished in double figures for the Panthers with 13 while Branden Lewis and Nick Drosnock both added six.
For the Indians, Mike Bealer added 12 points, and Ty Salone and Ian Beardsley both had seven.
Souderton entered the game with a two-game win streak – and the Big Red will attempt to begin another win streak this week against Central Bucks West while Quakertown will look to extend its game to three against North Penn.
Souderton Indians 9 19 15 9 * 52
Quakertown Panthers14 19 17 21 * 71
Souderton: Austin Eberhart 19, Mike Bealer 12, Ty Salone 7, Ian Beardsley 7, Matt Cartwright 3, David Brush 3, Noah Horas 1.
Quakertown: Griffin Schmidt 39, JR Grimmage 13, Branden Lewis 6, Nick Drosnack 6, Ty Harrison 4, Rob Mestayer 3.
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