BOYS BASKETBALL: Chanse Salone’s strong 3rd quarter helps Souderton beat North Penn for 6th straight win

FRANCONIA – Chanse Salone took over during a stretch of the third quarter and the Souderton boys basketball team pulled away from North Penn Friday night to continue its winning streak into the new year.

“I hit my first two threes, I think that’s where they started wanting me to get the ball,” Salone said. “So if I feel hot then yeah give me the ball.”

Salone knocked down three consecutive 3-pointers then added a traditional 3-point play midway through the third, the junior guard’s scoring barrage quickly expanding the Indians’ five-point advantage to 15 at 42-27.

“Coach always been telling me to shoot the ball more, to see more looks,” Salone said. “So I just took what the defense gave me.”

Salone provided half of Souderton’s 24-point outburst in the third, enabling the hosts to build a 52-30 lead late in the period and go on to beat the Knights 62-40 to earn a sixth straight win and remain unbeaten in the SOL Colonial Division.

“It feels good,” Salone said. “I put in a lot of work on my game. Last night, me, Nate Rusike are at the gym after practice getting shots up so it’s not something that I’m surprised, but I put in the work to get it done. But it feels good.”

Salone was one of three Indians to score in double figures, finishing with a team-high 18 points. Thaddeus Harter had 16 points while Nolan Watkins contributed 10 points.

Souderton (8-2, 4-0 division) took the lead for good with a 7-0 run in the second quarter – Salone contributing four points during the spurt – but was up just 28-23 at halftime.

The margin was still five at 30-25 in the third when Salone began connecting from long range, burying back-to-back treys to force the Knights to call time out at 5:41 with Big Red leading 36-25. Salone, however, proceeded to drain another from beyond the arc to make it 39-25.

“Honestly, it’s just hard work, man. I work so hard that I have confidence enough to get in rhythm and my teammates trust me when I shoot threes.”

After Salone’s 9-0 personal run was snapped by a basket from NP’s Aiden Atkinson, Salone answered with a 3-point play off a drive at exactly four minutes for a 42-27 lead.

The Knights pulled to within 42-29 at 3:43 as Wyatt Martin scored inside and was fouled but the Indians ripped off the next eight – a Harter 3-pointer, a Grady Kovach 3-pointer play then a Rusike basket giving Souderton a 50-29 advantage.

“Just listen to our coach, he knows mostly what sets to run in what type of situation,” Salone said. “So he knows that we execute those plays every time.”

The Indians led 52-20 after a Rusike bucket only for North Penn to cut its deficit to 52-36 at the end of the third after consecutive threes from Atkinson and Ahmaar Godhania.

Two Godhania free throws had North Penn down 54-40 with 6:41 remaining but the Knights did not score another point.

Godhania hit five 3-pointers – three in the first quarter – scoring a game-high 19 points for the Knights (4-9, 1-3), who have lost three straight. Atkinson added 10 points.

Souderton 2-2 after dropping back-to-back games to Upper Dublin (59-42 in Souderton’s Jim Church Classic final Dec. 7) and Lansdale Catholic (60-56 Dec. 10) but has not lost since and sits tied for first in the SOL Colonial with Central Bucks South.

“It was definitely a wakeup call for us cause those are two very good teams, they’re well coached, they got a lot of good players so it was a wakeup call,” Salone said. “And honestly I’m happy we had it early cause it got us ready for these types of games.”

Souderton has not won an SOL title since the 2012-2013 season when it split the Continental Conference crown with Hatboro-Horsham. The Indians are also looking to earn its first appearance in the District 1-6A playoffs since 2019-20. Souderton was 12-10 last season but finished 27th in the rankings with 24 teams making the tournament.

The Indians host South for the outright division lead 5 p.m. Tuesday but before that is home Saturday for a noon nonleague contest with Perkiomen Valley.

North Penn visits Central Bucks East 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Watkins’ 3-pointer gave Souderton a 13-9 before Godhania hit a corner trey to have the Knights trailing 13-12 heading to the second quarter.

North Penn twice took a one-point lead, the second time at 16-15 after a Godhania basket but Souderton scored the next seven. Salone made two free throws at 6:16 with Harter draining a three and Salone collecting a bucket to put the Indians up 22-16.

Godhania connected on a three and was fouled – he missed the free throw – to make it 22-19 with 4:01 left in the half before baskets from Trey Bui and Hater gave Big Red a 26-19 lead.

A Watkins bucket had Souderton again up seven at 28-21 but an Atkinson two had the halftime margin at five.

Souderton 62, North Penn 40

North Penn 12 11 13 4 – 40

Souderton 13 15 24 10 – 62

North Penn: Ahmaar Godhania 1 5 2-2 19; Aiden Atkinson 5 1 0-2 13; Wyatt Martin 1 0 1-3 3; Lee Hammond 1 0 0-0 2; Nolen Foust 1 0 0-0 2; JC Wood 0 0 1-2 1; Totals 9 6 4-9 40.

Souderton: Chanse Salone 3 3 3-3 18; Thaddeus Harter 5 2 0-0 16; Nolan Watkins 2 2 0-0 10; Nate Rusike 3 1 0-0 9; Grady Kovach 2 0 3-3 7; Trey Bui 1 0 0-0 2; Totals 16 8 6-6 62.