Husky Pride always comes alive at Dieruff High School on Hall of Fame Day, and the Dick Schmidt Gymnasium featured a larger-than-normal crowd on Saturday when Ron Berta, Buddy Maxwell, and Rich Sniscak were inducted into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame prior to the boys’ team’s Eastern Pennsylvania Conference boys basketball game against Allen.
A spirited atmosphere added to the game’s intensity, and the game was tied at 39 late in the third quarter.
But Allen scored the last six points of the third period and held Dieruff to seven points in the fourth stanza to post a 56-46 Eastern Pennsylvania win that kept the Canaries unbeaten at 7-0 entering the holiday break.
Allen star Tiheed Wise, Jr., fouled out with 6:10 left and Nazeer Chapman, another starter, fouled out later in the final period.
But Xayvon Wimberly scored six of his team-high 17 points in the fourth quarter — including a 4-for-4 effort at the foul line — and Allen was able to withstand the loss of the two key players.
“This was our third game of the week, and we wanted to close it out strong,” Wimberly said. “As an unbeaten team, we’ve got a target on our back every single game. We have to take it one game at a time and show we’re not playing around. We needed this one. Chuck Wise is a great player and our leading scorer. When he fouled out, we couldn’t let it stop us. We had to keep it going with the players we had.”
Wimberly, who had 11 in a win over Whitehall on Thursday night, said his role is to keep his teammates moving and engaged.
“Defensively, we can guard anyone we keep in front of us,” Wimberly said. “When we’re on the floor, we have a job to do and we have to execute.”
Allen has its own Christmas tournament coming up on Dec. 29-30, but won’t take a break over the holidays.
“I’m proud of these guys because we’re 7-0 and finding ways to win games,” Canaries coach Darnell Braswell said. “We came over here on our rival’s floor and it was a physical game. We had guys foul out and other guys with four fouls. We just did everything we needed to do to get a win.”
Wise scored 14 points before fouling out.
Alphy Deris led Dieruff (5-5) with 16 points before he fouled out in the fourth quarter.
Colonial League games
Notre Dame-Green Pond 73, Catasauqua 63: Justin Manning scored 27 points, and Drew Boyd added 24 as the Crusaders won a high-scoring Colonial League battle on Friday night at Notre Dame. The Crusaders improved to 6-1. Catty fell to 2-2 despite 22 points by Aalani Nix, 18 by Frankie Pujols, and 15 from Reece Lopez.
Northern Lehigh 60, Palisades 51: Kellen Bauer scored 23 points, and Chayce LoPinto added 16 as the Bulldogs improved to 4-5. Lincoln Cook led the Pirates (0-6) with 22.
Jim Thorpe 65, Lehighton 52: Pierce Gothard scored 21 of his 34 points in the second half to lead the Olympians (5-3) to their fourth straight win. Cole Dietz led the Indians (5-4) with 20.
Northwestern Lehigh 62. Palmerton 33: Malachi Coleman scored 19 points, and Mason Bollinger and Brady Krimmel added 13 and 10, respectively, as the Tigers remained the Colonial League’s unbeaten.
Other EPC games
Liberty 58, Freedom 37: The Hurricanes bounced back from Thursday night’s loss to Pocono Mountain West with a convincing win over one of their Christmas City rivals. Jake Pukszyn scored 19 points and Jarrell Teague added 16 for Liberty (6-3, 5-2). The Patriots remain winless after nine games.
Northampton 58, Stroudsburg 47: Noah Walakovits scored 16 points and Korbin Sollars added 14 as the Konkrete Kids bounced back from Tuesday’s loss to Parkland with a Thursday night EPC win at home. Tae El-Bassiouni led the Mounties (4-4) with 16.
Stroudsburg 49, Pleasant Valley 40: El-Bassiouni scored 18 points as the Mounites bounced back from the Thursday night loss with a home win on Saturday to improve to 5-4.
Northampton 61, Beth. Catholic 37: Walakovits scored 18 points, while Leo Regec and Brady Simock added 11 and 10, respectively as the K-Kids improved to 8-1 in their final game before the holiday break.
Nazareth 52, Easton 49: Bobby Grzenda’s 3-point shot from well beyond halfcourt at the buzzer gave the Blue Eagles sudden victory on Saturday. Grzenda’s 3-pointer was one of nine Nazareth treys in the game. Logan Hahn and Gavin Kershner had three 3-pointers apiece, and Kershner finished with 19 points and Hahn had 13.
Non-league
Execuitve 60, Northeast 49: The Raptors (4-1) bounced back from their first loss of the season to beat a Philadelphia Public League member. Eshaan Tung led the way with 24 points and Ziyon Wilkins added 16.
