BOYS BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK: Confident Lansdale Catholic moves to 3-0

By MIKE CABREY

mcabrey@thereporteroinline.com

The difference between last season’s Lansdale Catholic boys basketball team and this year’s was made apparent in the fourth quarter of its 43-37 non-league home win over William Tennent last Thursday.

A three-point play by junior Corey Kirk put the Crusaders up 30-28 with 5:52 remaining, and while Tennent tried everything to reclaim the lead, LC held off the Panthers to head into Philadelphia Catholic League play 3-0.

“I think we’re definitely more confident, cause I think last year, last two minutes, close game, I don’t think we would win that game,” Kirk said. “Our mindset was, ‘Oh, maybe we’ll win this game.’ This year, I think we know we’re going to win that game. We have a good attitude. We know we’re going to come out on top at the end.”

Lansdale Catholic has already matched its win total from 2011-2012 – the Crusaders’ first under coach Ed Enoch – when it finished 3-19. Last year, it took 16 games before LC collected its third win, a 44-38 victory over Monsignor Bonner which also doubled as the Crusaders lone PCL win.

“The kids really bought into the offseason stuff, they’ve worked hard,” Enoch said. “We got a great group of seniors that really make practices, our practices are better this year. We’re more competitive. And they’re great kids.”

Wagner a big help for Souderton

Brendan Wagner finished with a team-high 20 points as Souderton opened its Suburban One League Continental Conference slate with a 54-42 win over North Penn last Friday.

Scoring, however, is not the only thing the 6-foot-8-inch junior is looking to provide the Indians.

“I’m just trying to do what I can do just help the team and everything,” Wagner said. “However many points I can score, rebounds are really important to me, cause if I don’t get the boards, it’s just extra opportunities for them. We can’t have that.”

Against the Knights, Wagner collected eight of the first 10 points during Souderton’s game-ending 16-0 run that turned a 42-28 deficit early in the fourth quarter into a 12-point victory.

For Wagner, it was his second straight game in double digits, having posted 13 in the 51-43 non-league win over Methacton last Tuesday.

The victory over North Penn was the third straight over Continental rival for Souderton. It was also the Indians’ 10^th straight at home and their 11^th consecutive at home against conference opponents.

Follow Mike Cabrey on Twitter @mpcabrey.