It was the Night of the Knights at North Catholic High School.
Knoch’s intense offensive attack helped push the Trib HSSN Class 4A No. 3 Knights past the top-ranked Trojans, 66-56, on Friday night.
Teagan Finucan led the charge with 25 points and four rebounds, using his strength and speed to get to the basket.
“No matter what I’m doing when I’m driving, I have complete trust in my teammates,” Finucan said. “If I miss the shot, they’re crashing the glass. If not, they’re already back on defense ready to get a stop. That trust goes both ways, and that’s what fuels me.”
Finucan, in tough situations, always found a way to get to the hole and earn layups and trips to the free-throw line.
“If we need a bucket down the stretch, we go to him,” Vinnie DeFelice said. “Anytime, anywhere. He’s our clutch guy. He’s our basket-getter.”
Added Roman DeFelice: “He made us all look better. He stole the ball in tense situations and scored the ball in tough situations.”
The Knights (11-2, 5-0) got things rolling in the second quarter after extending their zone and turning up the ball pressure. Knoch dictated the tempo.
“Tonight was about tempo control,” coach Joe Lafko said. “North Catholic is averaging about 80 some points a game. You have to pick your times when you when you go to score. That’s not an easy thing to do, and that’s why they’re so successful and they do this so well.
“Our natural instincts are to go, go, go with them, but that’s not the tempo that we like to play with, and we were able to get into a half-court game with them a little bit.”
When North Catholic (9-4, 3-1) turned up is pressure defense, Knoch didn’t budge. The Knights didn’t turn the ball over.
The sibling duo of Vinnie DeFelice, who tallied 14 points and six rebounds, and Roman DeFelice, who had nine points, helped keep momentum.
“They were outstanding tonight,” Finucan said. “They, honestly, remind me of me and my older brother. They fuel this team on both ends of the floor: defensively, offensively, with their knowledge of the game and leadership. They take in everything the coaches say and lead by example.”
North Catholic, with an overwhelming amount of guards, plays small ball and plays skin-tight defense. The DeFelice brothers were unfazed.
“Roman was huge taking the ball up, taking that pressure, not making very many mistakes in the full court, and then finding people in the middle to get our fast breaks 4-on-3, 3-on-2s to get a bucket,” Vinnie DeFelice said.
Their teamwork helped keep momentum and got them out of tough situations.
“When I was getting trapped in the full court, I saw Vinny in the middle and gave it to him,” Roman DeFelice said. “He went down to me to play every time.”
The duo helped Knoch rally from a 25-17 deficit and finish the first half on a 16-6 run to go up 33-31.
In the third, North Cathlic battled back.
Jason Fredericks buried his fourth 3 that tied the score at 40-40. Fredericks, who scored his 1,000th career point during the game, finished with 26 points, including five 3s.
Nevertheless, Knoch went on an 7-0 run to go up 47-40. The Knights forced six turnovers in the third quarter as they were up six points with the DeFelice brothers notching multiple steals on the run.
The Trojans cut it to 57-53 after Fredericks tallied a layup. A Liam Avon basket put them up 59-53 with under two minutes to play.
North Catholic’s Brady Trout made a three to make it 61-56, but Knoch sealed the win at the free-throw line.
Knoch’s Derek Lang posted seven points and 10 rebounds, and Avon added ten points and nine rebounds.
“It’s just massive for the rest of the year and right now,” Roman DeFelice said. “At the start of the season, we were off all the rankings, and we really built that back up. A win like this against the No. 1 team is huge.”
Finucan knows it’s importance, but there still is a lot of season.
“It’s huge, but it’s also expected,” he said. “Every night, we’re the hunted. We’re the team everyone wants to beat. We might not have started the season in the top five, but we just took out the projected No. 1. That’s the standard here.”