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WISSAHICKON 53, SOUDERTON 38
The Trojans burst out of the starting gate to five straight wins but then hit a rough patch, dropping three straight. They brought a welcome end to that three-game skid with a non-league win over the visiting Indians.
“We played the four games so well, and I’m sure the people on the outside might say, ‘Oh, they were weaker opponents,’” coach Kyle Wilson said. “In the last three games, we just haven’t been playing really well on either side of the ball.
“As a coach, you always say, ‘What can we improve?’ Let’s at least improve our continuity on offense, let’s at least improve sealing penetration on defense, and for three games, we weren’t doing much of anything that much better. We were playing better against each opponent, but it’s tough to see it when you still come out with a loss.”
The Trojans – behind seven points from Matt Compas and a pair of Jackson Intrieri three’s – led 17-13 after one quarter. Aleks Smith kept the Indians close with six points in the frame.
The Trojans allowed just two points in the second quarter and put the game out of reach in the middle two quarters, outscoring their visitors 25-10 to go on top 42-23.
“I thought our guys tonight played really good defense,” Wilson said. “To only hold them to 15 in the first half was good. They’ve got size, they’ve got talent, they’re not a bad team even though their record might say something different.
“They’re a hardworking, well-coached team. It was nice to get that win. It was important for our guys.”
Matt Compas turned in a routinely excellent performance with 22 points, including a pair of three’s. His nine points sparked a 17-8 Trojan third quarter. Intrieri added 11 points, and Stefan Lowry had six.
“I thought we had good balance,” Wilson said. “Matt is always one who gets his scoring, but there were a lot of guys that contributed.
“Right after our loss to Upper Dublin, we lost Morgan Wilson, one of our starters, who dislocated his shoulder, so he’s been out for a few games. We went with Earl Stout, who’s a sophomore point guard and is a really solid player, and he had a groin injury. It was like next man up.”
Phil Dias was the next man up, stepping into the point guard spot Thursday.
“I give a lot of credit to him,” Wilson said. “He doesn’t do a lot of things you’ll see in the scorebook, but he makes the little assist, he makes the steal here and there. He’s a really good floor general. He’s vocal and he’s a long athletic kid. I thought he was a good settling force in our game tonight.
“On offense, he made sure Matt (Compas) got his touches and Jackson (Intrieri) got the ball in his right spots, and he looked inside to (Josh) Twersky and some of the other guys when he needed to. Sometimes you need a guy who’s a glue guy, and I thought tonight he was one of those glue guys.
“I remember talking to (men’s basketball coach) John Baron at Gwynedd Mercy, and he said, ‘Sometiemes you need a guy who’s a DORK.’ I said, ‘What?’ He said, ‘It’s a good acronym – a guy who plays defense, doesn’t care about offense, rebounds and he knows his role.’ Phil was DORKy for us tonight – he defended, didn’t care about offense, rebounded, and he knew who to get the ball to. A credit to him.”
For the Indians, Chris Towsen led the way with 12 points, which included two 3-pointers and a 6-for-7 effort at the foul line. Evan Kutzler contributed 11 points, and Smith finished with nine.
“This is a tough season for coaches,” Wilson said. “I think the players love it because they’re playing, playing, playing. As coaches, you like to have a few practices to tweak things or change something. For tonight and tomorrow, yesterday’s practice was – ‘Here’s what this team looks like, here’s what the other team looks like, let’s get ready for two nights in a row of basketball.’”
Wissahickon (6-3, 2-2 SOL) will host Hatboro-Horsham in Friday’s Senior Night game, and Souderton (1-5, 1-4) will travel to Central Bucks South on Friday.
Game Summary Brought To You By
Souderton 13-2-8-15 38
Wissahickon 17-8-17-11 53
Souderton (38) – Evan Kutzler 5 1-1 11; Shaun Purvy 10-0 2; Chris Towsen 2 6-7 12; James Blair 0 1-4 1; Aleks Smith 4 1-1 9; TOTALS 13 10-15 38.
Wissahickon (53) – Matt Compas 10 0-0 22; Josh Twersky 2 1-2 5; Ryan Friedman 1 0-0 3; Jackson Intrieri 4 1-2 11; Stefan Lowry 3 0-0 6; Phillip Dias 1 0-0 2; Will Kunzier 2 0-1 4; TOTALS 23 2-5 53.
3-point goals: Souderton – Chris Towsen, Wissahickon – Matt Compas 2, Jackson Intrieri 2, Ryan Friedman.