Check out Saturday’s result for SOL boys’ basketball teams in action. To view photos of the PW/Upper Merion and CR South/Bensalem games, please visit the Photo Gallery.
CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 71, SOUDERTON 64 (3 OT)
By Scott Huff
Franconia – The game was postponed 18 and ½ hours due to Winter Storm Hercules, and Central Bucks East had to work 44 minutes over the course of three grueling overtimes to claim an entertaining 71-64 Suburban One League Continental Conference victory over host Souderton.
It was the pulsating play of a pair of guards – one for East – and the other for the Indians – that captivated the sparse crowd. And neither would be confused with possessing the powerful physique of the legendary Hercules.
Central Bucks East guard Brendan McLaughlin was terrific with a 27-point effort. McLaughlin was fouled outside the 3-point arc with 12.5 seconds left in the fourth quarter and the Patriots down 46-43. The talented East senior drained all three free throws to force the first overtime.
“That is something we have come to expect with Brendan,” said Central Bucks East head coach Erik Henrysen. “He is our captain, he is our leader, and we go the way that he goes. He has been sick battling strep throat, but he has hung in there and hasn’t missed a game yet.”
Souderton guard Carter Knight might have been the most impressive player on the floor with his 27-point scoring performance. The diminutive senior hit a trio of 3-pointers and scored all of his team’s 13 points in the third period to help erase a 10-point (33-23) CB East lead.
“Carter Knight had another impressive day,” said Souderton head coach Pete Chimera. “He has such a competitive streak in him, and he wants to win so badly.”
“Carter Knight was unbelievable today,” complimented McLaughlin of his Souderton opponent. “But when we had to answer what he did, we did it as a team. Our entire team came together a little more today.”
Both CB East and Souderton had shots at winning this game before the deciding third overtime.
In regulation after the trio of free throws by McLaughlin, Souderton got a good look at the basket for a final shot. The Knight miss – only his second of the entire second half – rimmed out the game went into the first overtime.
At the close of the first overtime, CB East had a shot when Justin O’Neil had a pair of free throws with 0:01 left on the clock and the Patriots down 52-51. O’Neil nailed a clutch free throw on his first attempt but saw the game winner spill out and send the game into a second overtime.
At the close of the second overtime, Souderton had a shot to win the contest when Jared Bernhart had a pair of free throws with 0.06 left on the clock and the Indians down 61-60. Bernhart missed the first shot but calmly sank the second attempt to send the game in a third overtime.
CB East sank 7-of-8 free throws in the third overtime to seal the deal – and collect a key SOL Continental Conference win.
“We talked about how important it was to be able to win conference games in the other team’s gym,” said Henrysen. “This is going to be an extremely competitive league all year, and to be able to win some away games – and to take care of the home games – is going to be huge.”
“We started out 0-3, but now we have won four of our last five,” said McLaughlin. “We are playing with a real positive feeling right now.”
“This makes us 1-3 in the league, and we are in a tough situation,” said Chimera. “It was tough to play the game without (outstanding senior guard) Steve Shaffer (out with a concussion until Tuesday), and we missed Evan (Slone) in the second half of this game with light-headedness. But we just have to get ourselves ready to play Pennridge on Tuesday.”
And chances are it won’t take three overtimes to decide that one.
Central Bucks East Patriots 10 14 11 11 6 9 10 - 71
Souderton Indians 10 8 13 15 6 9 3 - 64
Central Bucks East: Brendan McLaughlin 27; Tommy Strasburger 10, Ben Kardane 17; Blake Peterson 2; Brendan O’Neil 7; Justin O’Neil 5; Matt Gentry 2; Joe Laphen 1. Total – 71.
Souderton Indians: Carter Knight 27; Evan Slone 4; Ben Wonderling 2; Tim Markow 13; Tracy Simsick 8; Jared Bernhart 10. Total – 64.
UPPER DUBLIN 54, UPPER MORELAND 30
WOODS, CONRAN, AND FRYER LEAD CARDINALS IN EVISCERATION OF UPPER MORELAND
By Jesse Bernstein for SuburbanOneSports.com
Upper Dublin sophomore guard Simeon Fryer led Upper Dublin with 10 points and helped the Cardinals hold the Golden Bears to just nine second half points in a 54-30 rout. Senior forward Kevin McFall led Upper Moreland in scoring with 9 points.
For the Cardinals, defense was the name of the game. After surrendering 10 points in the first quarter, and watching their star guard Fryer go to the bench with two quick fouls, senior forwards Marc Conran and Zach Greenberg tightened up the paint, taking on any and all comers while sending back several shots.
Meanwhile, with Fryer on the bench, Conran scored all seven of his points in the second quarter to give the Cardinals a 26-21 lead going into the half. Upper Moreland senior forward Tommy Robinson scored seven in the first half but was unable to put the ball in the basket for the rest of the game.
The third quarter was nightmare for the Golden Bears, as the Cardinals, led by Kevin Woods four points in the quarter, held them to just three points. Upper Moreland was buried under an avalanche of turnovers.
Upper Dublin coach Josh Adelman said, “We told them at halftime that the defensive intensity was there, we just were giving up baseline, which they don’t wanna hear from me anymore…We made a couple adjustments.”
The lead went to double digits on sophomore forward Ryan Stover’s jumper with 1:40 to go in the quarter, and it would never fall below that threshold. McFall was the lone bright spot for the Golden Bears, hitting his teammates with uncommonly deft passes for a big man. However, Greenberg and Conran were there to stop driving Golden Bears again and again.
As bad as the third quarter was for Upper Moreland, the fourth quarter was worse. Six different Cardinals scored in a quarter that saw Upper Dublin go on an 18-6 tear. Upper Dublin senior guard Kevin Woods, who finished with nine points, pushed the lead to 20 when he stole the ball and ran the length of the court, finishing through contact to cheers from the Upper Dublin stands.
On Woods, Coach Adelman attributed his recent successes to his having “a little of the pressure taken of off him, of handling the ball all the time. He’s just playing within himself.”
On the game, Woods himself said that, “We just started settling down and getting into things.”
Zach Greenberg added eight points for the Flying Cardinals.
Upper Dublin (3-4) and Upper Moreland (2-7) are both 1-2 in the SOL.
Upper Dublin 10 16 10 18-54
Upper Moreland 10 11 3 6-30
UPPER DUBLIN: Barrett-4 points; Abel-5 points; Woods-9 points, 0/2 FT; Thompson-3 points; Derr-2 points, 2/2 FT; Weiss-0 points; Conran-7 points, 1/2 FT; Stover-6 points; Fryer-10 points, 1/2 FT; Greenberg-8 points, 2/2 FT; Fields-0 points; Santerian-0 points
UPPER MORELAND: Corr-2 points; Robinson-7 points; Grasty-6 points; Martin-3 points, 1/1 FT; Driscoll-0 points; Smith-0 points; Decker-0 points; O’Donnell-0 points; Mulligan-3 points, 1/2 FT; 40-McFall-9 points, 3/4 FT; 42-Trovato-0 points.
COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 61, BENSALEM 42
The Golden Hawks jumped out to an early lead and never looked back on their way to the convincing win. Rock South led 19-9 at the end of one quarter, sparked by eight points from sophomore Mike Stock. Three players – Tom Townsend, Dan Kockott and Will Faccenda – connected on three-pointers in the opening frame.
By halftime, the Golden Hawks had extended their lead to 32-19. Stock scored all 11 of his points in the opening half. Townsend, who finished with a game-high 16 points, scored 11 points in the second half – nine in a fourth quarter that saw the Golden Hawks explode for 20 points. Faccenda finished with 12 points and Kockott, nine points. Dan Buchnik added eight points.
Avery Nyekan led the Owls with 11 points while Chris Kilcoyne added 10 points.
The Golden Hawks evened their league record at 2-2 (3-6 overall) while the Owls (0-4 SOL, 1-8 overall) continue to search for their first league win.
Bensalem 9 10 8 14-42
Council Rock South 19 13 9 20-61
PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 65, UPPER MERION 38
The Colonials received scoring from six different players en route to a 14-5 lead at the end of one quarter. They took a 30-17 lead into halftime with juniors Andre Mitchell and Cameron Johnson leading the way with eight points each. Junior Jimmy Murray had a huge second half for the Colonials, scoring 16 of his game high 18 points in the half as the Colonials extended their lead. Included in his 18 points were three three-pointers. Mitchell finished the game with 15 points while Johnson and Brett Paul both added 10. Manuel Herezi chipped in with eight points for the Colonials, who improved to 4-0 in league play (7-2 overall).
The Vikings (4-4, 1-3 SOL) were led by the nine-point effort of senior Samik Patel. Dan Kobler added seven points, and Ethan Miller had six.
Plymouth Whitemarsh 14 16 14 21-65
Upper Merion5 12 10 11-38
PENNSBURY 75, SPRING-FORD 60
The Falcons once again put on a dazzling offensive performance, scoring more than 60 points for the seventh time in eight games. Four players finished the game in double figures as Pennsbury handed the Rams (9-1) their first loss of the season.
Cameron Jones led the way with 18 points while Mekhi Bryant and Steve Ciotti both added 14. Derrick Woods contributed 12 points for the Falcons, who improved to 7-1 on the season.
NORTH PENN 54, LANSDALE CATHOLIC 47
The Knights used a 12-4 second quarter burst to turn a 17-14 deficit into a 26-21 halftime lead. North Penn held off a late LC surge to earn the win in a battle of neighboring rivals.
“It was a great win,” coach John Conrad said. “We were up 10, and they chipped away and got it all the way down to two. That has happened to us a few times this year.
“Our guys hung together and learned how to win a close game, which is big for us.”
Brian Coleman, who led the Knights with 14 points, scored eight points in the pivotal fourth quarter.
“That helped us tremendously,” Conrad said.
Noah Melchoir added 11 points while Cordell Lord and Jason Jones both contributed nine points.
Conrad credited Lord for a standout defensive effort against LC’s Andrew Riviello.
“Riviello had four points going into the fourth quarter when he hit a long three, so he ended with seven, but Cordell really did a great job of defending him all game long,” the Knights’ coach said.
The Knights upped their record to 3-5.
North Penn 14 12 14 14-54
Lansdale Catholic 17 4 9 17-47
CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 52, METHACTON 51
The Bucks took a 42-34 lead into the fourth quarter, but that lead turned out to be anything but secure as the Warriors battled back to take a one-point lead with 30 seconds to play. The Bucks won the game in dramatic fashion on a basket by Evan Dunn with 2.5 seconds remaining.
Dunn finished the game with 13 points, which included all 10 of his team’s fourth quarter points. Cal Reichwein led the Bucks with 18 points on six three-point baskets.
Kyle Salvitti and Pat Kelly both added seven points for the Bucks, who improved to 5-3 on the season.
Methacton 10 11 13 17-51
Central Bucks West 12 18 12 10-52
QUAKERTOWN 57, UPPER PERKIOMEN 34
Griffin Schmidt led a balanced Panther attack with 13 points. Make Repsher and Liam Buckley both added 10 points. Buckley was 4-of-5 from the foul line. Brian Rejniak had nine points while Jake Perrine and Kevin Norvasis both had seven points. The Panthers, who improved to 3-6, connected on five three-pointers and converted 12-of-19 from the foul line.
GLEN MILLS 51, CHELTENHAM 45
Aaron Burton had a big night for the Panthers, finishing with a double-double on 14 points and 13 rebounds.
Glen Mills took a 28-22 lead into halftime, and although the Panthers pulled to within 35-31, they never could get over the hump.
The Panthers (2-1 SOL) fell to 2-7 overall.
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