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St. John Neumann defended their PIAA District IV Class A championship over North Penn-Liberty in a rematch from last year on Thursday, March 3.

Like last year the Mounties got out to a quick start in the first half then stumbled in the second half as they fell 60-54.

“We came out with a game plan to try and make it tough on them,” said head coach Brian Litzelman. “They’re a good team with a lot of athletic talent. We started strong but we gave them some momentum on turnovers in the second half.”

The Mounties had a 15-11 lead after the first quarter, led by 9 points from Derek Litzelman. However the Golden Knights put together a 12-9 run in the second to cut the lead to 24-23 at the half. Similar to last year’s game Neumann began to pull away in the third quarter. They outscored the Mounties 17-13 in the quarter, mainly due to turnovers as the Mounties started running low on gas, to lead 40-37.

The fourth quarter was the nail in the coffin for Neumman as they outscored the Mounties 24-13.

Litzelman (21) and Hunter Thompson (14) led the Mounties in scoring on the night. Devin Bradley also added 7 points. Davion Hill led all scorers with 30 points and Hanief Clay added 22 for St. John Neumann.

“These guys put together a phenomenal season,” continued Litzelman. “You can ask anyone around here and no one would’ve picked us to win no more than 4, 5, or 6 games. The fact that we were in the district final is a credit to all of the individuals on the team. They bought into a new system and worked hard all season long, and down the stretch we continued to get better and better.”

Both teams advance to next week’s state tournament on Tuesday, March 8. St. John Neumann (22-3) will take on the 4th seed from District III while North Penn-Liberty (15-9) will face the 3rd seed from District III.