MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette St. John Neumann seniors and teammates celebrate their District 4 Class A championship win over Northumberland Christian at Danville on Thursday.

DANVILLE — St. John Neumann players gathered in front of their loyal fans, celebrating a hard-earned championship a year in the making. As the standing ovation continued, players waved their classmates onto the court.

Neumann is one of the state’s smallest schools and graduating classes sometimes can be counted on just a few hands. But that makes this a tight-knit school and this little school sure continues doing big things.

David and Davion Hill combined for 47 points, Malaki Parlante recorded a double-double and every Knight provided a positive impact Thursday as Neumann defeated Northumberland Christian, 71-55, and captured its sixth District 4 Class A championship in eight years. The Knights (21-4) won the program’s first title since 2017, led from early in the first quarter on and earned a spot in the state tournament next weekend against District 3’s fifth-place finisher at a District 4 site to be announced.

“It’s a great experience. It’s so much fun playing in this atmosphere,” Josiah Reid said after grabbing seven rebounds and dealing four assists. “The student section was great and loud and so was the bench. It was a fun time.”

“They’ve worked hard all year long and they deserve this. I couldn’t be more proud of them,” Neumann coach Joe Clark said. “They played very well tonight. This was our best four quarters we’ve played this year. Our defense was very good and everybody played very well.”

Neumann earned a level of redemption as well after losing in last year’s final at Danville’s Whitey McCloskey Center. The loss stung, but it also provided fuel. Given another opportunity, Neumann would not let it slip away.

Twenty years ago to the date, Neumann defeated Lourdes and won the first of its seven district championships of the 2000s at Danville. The tradition continued there last night with starters and reserves igniting key runs and help the Knights break things open with a third-quarter flurry which pushed an eight-point halftime lead to 22.

David Hill scored a game-high 24 points and helped Neumann close out the title. Davion scored 13 first-quarter points and sparked a strong start. Parlante (17 points, 12 rebounds) dominated the inside, Reid stuffed the stat sheet, Keon Burkholder played strong defense and Jer-Val Weeks-Shuler was sensational off the bench.

Everything fit at the perfect time and Neumann let a huge crowd see pure happiness as they huddled at midcourt as time expired and literally jumped for joy together.

“I’ve won one in football and basketball and from the collection, this has to be one of the most memorable,” Parlante said. “To go out with this group of guys and doing what we had to do in a large-scale game is a crazy great feeling. Obviously for us to come up short last year was a big challenge, but that’s what we work for. We work for championships.”

“It feels amazing. Last year was heartbreaking for me. I really wanted it this year and so did my team and we came out and handled business early,” David Hill said after recording his second straight double-double and grabbing 10 rebounds. “Everyone came in with energy and that’s what we preached coming into the game. Everyone just stepped it up right from the start.”

Davion Hill scored Neumann’s first eight points and sparked a 12-0 run in which Neumann erased an early two-point deficit and took a 16-6 lead. Northumberland Christian (17-8) pulled as close as four in the second quarter, but the Knights remained in control and took a 38-30 halftime lead.

Feeling like it had Norry on the ropes, the Knights went for a knockout blow in the third quarter and started landing haymakers. Neumann forced 10 turnovers, made 9 of 15 shots and opened with a 19-5 run which gave it a 22-point advantage.

“We just had to put it to them coming out at halftime and go after them,” David Hill said. “We had to keep the same energy we had the first half and we came together and got it done.”

Parlante showed how dangerous he can be throughout that second half, scoring 13 of his 17 points. The all-star football player used both his strength and quickness to repeatedly own the paint and open up opportunities for others. He also pulled down a team-high 12 rebounds, made four steals and dealt three assists.

Parlante went coast-to-coast and David Hill found him in transition, putting Neumann up, 55-33, late in the third quarter as all parts of Neumann’s offense hummed perfectly together.

“I felt good at practice the whole week,” Parlante said. “We had a really good week of practice and for my teammates to pick me up and help me the way they did, I owe it all to them.”

Reid was a vital part of Neumann’s first-quarter surge as was Weeks-Shuler. The sophomore never played basketball before this season, but with Burkholder in early foul trouble, he entered and played swarming defense against explosive Norry guard Aaron Knauss. He also was a big factor on the boards, grabbing five in a short period and also scoring in the second quarter when Neumann held off Norry’s runs.

Weeks-Shuler embraced the next-man-up philosophy and as the game progressed everything fell into place. Davion Hill made four second-half steals, David again played the closer role and scored six fourth-quarter points, and the final two minutes basically were a coronation, allowing Neumann and its fans to celebrate what all that hard work has produced.

Not that the journey is finished yet. Another opportunity now awaits and the work continues.

“It hurt so much last year and to come back and win this game, it feels pretty awesome,” Reid said. “We’re peaking right now and hopefully we can continue that going into states.”

St. John Neumann 71, Northumberland Chr. 55

NEUMANN (71)

Davion Hill 8 4-5 23, David Hill 12 0-2 24, Malaki Parlante 8 1-1 17, Keon Burkholder 0 0-2 0, Josiah Reid 2 0-0 5, Essex Taylor 0 0-0 0, Jer-Val Weeks-Shuler 1 0-0 2. Totals 30 5-12 71.

N. CHRISTIAN (55)

Aaron Knauss 7 5-5 25, David King 3 0-2 7, Jack Garvin 3 0-0 6, Justin Ross 3 0-0 6, Luke Snyder 1 2-4 4, Cole Knauss 1 0-0 2, Henry McElroy 2 0-0 5. Totals 20 7-11 55.

Neumann 23 15 19 14-71

N. Christian 16 14 9 16-55

3-point goals: Neumann 4 (Davion Hill 3, Reid 1), N. Christian 5 (A. Knauss 3, King 1, McElroy 1).

Records: St. John Neumann (21-4), Northumberland Christian (17-8).