SOUDERTON- The game seemed to be over heading into the 4th quarter as the Indians had a 17-point lead, which was once a 20-point lead, but by the end of the game, the Indians only won by 2.

“We waited until we were too far down to really play with any energy.  I was disappointed with our effort in the first half, we dug ourselves a 20-point hole and we tried to comeback and it was just too far to come,” Head Coach John Conrad said.

The North Penn Knights (4-10) lost to the Souderton Indians (10-6) 45-43 in the second game of a double-header at Souderton Area High School.

Joe Larkins got the first points up on the board with a layup coming off a steal.  It didn’t last for lone as Jason Price hit a three to give the Indians a 3-2 lead.  Josh Jones then got bucket to retake the lead for the Knights.  With 4:52 left in the first quarter, Price went 2/2 at the foul line and Souderton led 5-4.  With a little over a minute left, Larkins made three free throws and got the Knights a 9-7 lead.  They took an 11-9 advantage into the second quarter.

Price made a layup a little less than a minute into the second quarter to tie the game and after that, Souderton took control of the game for the next two quarters.  They took a 23-15 lead into halftime and after the third quarter, it was 38-21 in favor of the Indians.

But the Knights kept battling and clawed their way back.  Rob Carangi had a big fourth quarter as he had 12 points in the last quarter and was a major part of the comeback effort.  Josh Jones went 2/2 at the foul line with 1:25 left in the game to bring the Knights within one possession.  With 43.3 left in the game, Carangi got an offensive rebound and made the putback to make the score 44-43 with the Indians leading.  The Knights had a two chances to win it as with 5.9 seconds left, Josh Jones drove to the basket and made a layup but it did not count as the Indians drew an offensive charge from Larkins.  Then with 5.2 left, Price made a free throw to extend the lead to 2 points.  Larkins dribbled down the court and got a shot off at the end, but it was no good as the buzzer sounded and the game ended.

The Knights are back in action at 1:30 Saturday at Bensalem High School.

“I think they have one loss, so it doesn’t get any easier.  Same message, we’re just trying to get better everyday.  Today we took a step backwards,” Coach Conrad said.

North Penn: Swanson 2 pts, Larkins 7 pts, Jones 14 pts, Carangi 20 pts

Souderton: Chouriaf 3 pts, Towsen 5 pts, Kutzler 6 pts, Reiner 7 pts, Murawski 10 pts, Price 14 pts