Catasauqua’s boys’ basketball coach Eric Snyder knew his team had a challenge ahead when they faced Philadelphia-based Audenried in their opening-round PIAA Class 3A playoff game at West Philadelphia High School.

Unfortunately, the Rough Riders fell behind early, and they never could close the gap, and they dropped a 68-62 decision. The loss left the Roughies with an overall 20-9 record.

Catty fell behind 7-3 in the opening moments, and they trailed 26-16 in the second quarter before they closed the gap to 31-26 at halftime.

The Roughies pulled to within 49-48 at the end of three quarters, but Audenried outdistanced them in the final stretch.

Snyder stated his team did have a chance to stay alive in state play. They did advance to the second round last year.

“We were down 66-62 with about 40 seconds left,” said Snyder. “Two of our shots at the end literally rolled around the rim and out.

“We did a nice job at keeping a lot of rebounds and loose balls alive.”

Snyder noted that Audenried’s overall height advantage created a problem as well as the play of point guard Melvin Clarke. Forward 6-7 Nathan Lee had 16 points, and Clarke had a game-high 27 points.

“The two keys for them were their superior height and Clarke,” stressed Snyder. “Lee was a tremendous factor in the lane. He was blocking shots and altering shots. He also had a ton of rebounds, and we had nobody that could match his size.

“Our kids battled as best as they could, but 6-7 is bigger than 6-foot. Clarke was a good shooter. We had four tapes on them, but he was unbelievable. He had four three-pointers and three of them were at least NBA range and nothing but net.

“We had a hand in his face on almost everyone. I mean a really good hand in his face, we played good defense on this guy and he just drained them and hit little jump shots.

“He went to the hole, but we did not expect that from him. I thought we did a fair job on the big kid (Lee), Clark was the difference in the game. We did not expect him to be as good as he was, but they’re overall height was a dominant factor.”

Sophomore Aalani Nix paced the Roughies with 25 points and senior Frankie Pujols added 19.

Snyder was pleased with the season, but his team didn’t claim any hardware in the postseason. They were district champions last year.

“Overall, it was a good season,” said Snyder. “It could’ve been better, and we would’ve liked to have gotten some kind of a title. We also would have liked to advance in the PIAA State playoffs.

“But our seniors set a standard, and they will be missed.”